Remember
by Lily-Beth.Bluebell
Summary: In a world where the Goblin King never fell in love with the girl; where the girl who ate the peach truly forgot everything...Jareth only has thirteen days in which to make Sarah remember everything about the Labyrinth, or else his kingdom, his Labyrinth and possibly even he himself will crumble forever.
1. Prologue

**So, a prologue full of pretty words and shiz...but in the first chapter, we'll jump straight into the action because I can't be arsed messing around with the tedious chapters where Sarah talk to her family or friends. Also, this WILL be in third person, past, but I'm doing the prologue in present tense because I can :3**

"It is ending, Goblin King."

A tall man clad in tight breeches, a poet's shirt, and leather clenches his gloved hand. The leather encompassing his fingers creaks as he does. His whole arm begins to shake, in anger and even fear: a feeling no one is used to seeing from him.

The man's long blonde hair whips around his face in the intense wind, his dark cape copying. His eyes, one a curious sky blue, the other a deep mossy green, are screwed in some kind of pain. His perfectly sculpted eyebrows are pulled down in a frown, but his sour expression does not match his otherworldly beauty. He is of the Fae. More specifically, of the Tuatha Dé Danann. And he is a king. He exudes the regality of his position, but there is something else there too. It is not easy to place one's finger on it, but it is there, and it seems almost painful.

But now, he is as close to a mere man as he will ever be. He feels tired. His power is draining, slowly but surely. His domain is crumbling. He is losing everything. He has spent almost thirteen hundred years working for his position in this world, and it is now failing.

"Why?" he asks simply.

The woman by his side glances around. No, not a woman. A Goddess. Her hair is wavy fire falling to well past her elbows. It is wild and untamed. Her eyes are a pale and warming blue, the same as her basic dress which swirls in the gale force winds.

She is Danu. The Goddess. The One he follows.

"Because no one remembers," she replies calmly. "The rest of the Underground will thrive while your Labyrinth and your kingdom will fall. Ultimately, there is nothing I can do to prevent this. No one remembers."

"But Sarah-"

"The mortal Sarah has forgotten," Danu interrupts, serene. "A spell was cast the night she went home and fell asleep, and by no one in particular. The girl who ate the peach has truly forgotten everything."

The Fae man grits his teeth, glaring out at the Labyrinth. Its walls are crumbling to dust. The forest is wilting. His kingdom is dying. And he cannot stand it.

"What can I do?" he demands.

"You must make her remember."

"What?" the man rages, not caring that he is speaking to a Goddess. "I would not go near the little-"

"Peace, my child," the goddess beseeches. "And listen to me very carefully for I shall not repeat myself. In the future, there will be others who believe, but I fear by then it will be too late. Sarah is the last surviving of her race that can be reminded. Put your irrational hate for the girl aside, Jareth. Tomorrow morning, you must go to her. Bring her back here and make her remember. You will have thirteen days before she must be sent home - and that is how long I can hold off the death of your land. If she does not remember everything within the alotted time, there will be no hope left for the Goblin Kingdom, or the Labyrinth. Or even you, my child."

Jareth clenches his fists harder, grinding his teeth. It is ironic, he thinks, that none of this is very fair.

"What must I do to force her to remember?" he asks. "It seems too simple to merely lift the spell locking her memories."

"Anything," Danu replies. "Everything within your power. It is not going to be easy, and no doubt she will fight you. The girl is now a woman in her early twenties and she has long grown past her fairytales. She is not the person you will remember."

Jareth sighs, defeated. He cannot argue with the wisdom and advice of the Goddess.

"She will try to run, if I keep her locked away forcing things on her that she can't recall," he informs the Goddess.

"Perhaps you should let her," Danu answers. "This will be difficult for her too. Even more so than you can imagine."

"Because she's changed?" Jareth asks dryly.

"And because of the pain." Jareth flinches and glances up at his goddess. She nods her head gravely. "Yes, child. For every memory Sarah regains, it will cause her some amount of physical pain. That cannot be helped, unfortunately. Try to be there for her when that happens."

Jareth shakes his head at the goddess, incredulous.

"How can I do that?" he snarls. "I hate the girl. She will not trust me, and when she does remember who I am, she will trust me even less."

"Only if you give her reasons not to trust you," the goddess reminds him. "Now, go, Jareth. Rest well tonight. Do not forget this: she must remember _everything_."

**So, yeah. Not the darkest Jareth ever, but there will definitely be some of that sexy beast showing up. Please review :3**


	2. 1: In Which Sarah Decides To Run

**This is one of the longest chapters I have ever written. Well over 4000 words! YAY! So, goings for this story may be slow as I want to do a very good job (and I'm still working on not giving up on my other one). So I do hope you'll all be patient and give me nice reviews for more motivation :D**

"Sarah, mom says we're heading out, and if you wanna keep living under this roof for free, you gotta clean up."

Toby's voice was unnaturally high and loud, and it seemed to come from her bedroom door. Forcing her eyes open, she recognised his messy blonde hair through the morning blur. He had on a vivid red t-shirt and it actually hurt her eyes to look at it. She closed them again and rolled away from her eight year old brother. Everything was too bright and too loud at this time of the morning: whatever time it was.

She heard Toby huff and his sneakered feet thudded towards her. His small fingers found her eyelids and he pulled them open. He glared directly into her forced-open eyes.

"Didn't you hear me?" he demanded.

"I did," she croaked, groggy from sleep. "I also hear the voices in my head telling me it's way too early for any human being to be up."

Toby huffed again and released her eye. She scooted away from him, but he took this as an invitation. He leapt onto the bed and lay down beside her on his side so that he was facing her. His fingers tickled her nose which she scrunched up to try to make him stop. In reality, she loved the sensation, and she frequently did it to Toby to help him fall asleep or even wake up. But now, she did not want to get out of bed.

"Sarah, please get out of bed," Toby begged quietly. "I don't want mom to kick you out."

Sarah sighed and opened her eyes to look at her little brother. His blue eyes were watery with unshed tears and a lump appeared in her throat at the sight. She reached out her index finger and trailed it down the bridge of his nose to the tip gently.

"Karen can't kick me out," Sarah reassured him, although they both knew it was a lie. "If dad was still here, maybe it would be better, but I promise you I'm not going anywhere."

"Really?" Toby asked, his eyes showing hurt beyond his years at the mention of their deceased father.

Robert had died almost two years ago of cancer. Karen had been kind to him until his last moments, but afterwards had turned sour. She was pleasant and motherly to Toby who was her own flesh and blood, but to Sarah, she was every bit the wicked step-mother she had always seen her as. A vile woman who was mean and nasty and constantly threatened to kick Sarah out if her orders were not followed. Sarah really did hate Karen, but put up with her and stayed because of her beloved little brother. Were it not for the fact that she and Toby shared a father, Sarah was certain Karen would have left her to the streets ages ago.

She smiled at Toby.

"Really," she swore. "I'm always going to be here."

"Then please get up," he pleaded.

Sighing, she pushed herself into a sitting position, stretching and yawning. Toby sat up too.

"Toby, would you tell that brat of a sister of yours to hurry up!" Karen shrieked from below.

"I'm awake!" Sarah screamed back, adding quietly, "You old witch."

Toby giggled. Sarah threw her arms around him and kissed him quickly on the forehead then shoved him lightly off the bed.

"Go," she muttered. "Before she throws a hissy fit."

Toby waved goodbye to her and rushed off to meet his mother. Sarah listened until she heard the car zooming away before flopping back down on the bed. She simply did not want to deal with this any longer. The death of her father had been no shock. He had lasted almost three months beyond what the doctors had said he would, but it still pained her. It hurt to think he had married a woman who hated her so much. It was Karen's way, or no way.

Well, that was not entirely true. She could always have lived on the streets which seemed preferable to Karen, but Toby was what kept her here. Always Toby. As an unemployed young woman, Sarah could not afford to move into a place of her own, or even share someplace with a friend, not that she had many of those. Merlin the dog had been one of those, but after her father had gotten sick, Karen had demanded that the dog go so that her husband received the undivided attention of everyone.

Sarah shook her head of the rather depressing thoughts and forced herself up out of bed - she did not need to be starting the day with thoughts of death plaguing her mind. She glanced at the clock on the wall. Barely seven AM. It was saturday. She groaned and made her way towards the window. She threw the curtains open and then the window, letting the grey morning wash the bedroom in dull light and fresh air.

She moved to the vanity case and sat down heavily on the stool, glaring at her reflection in the mirror. She was too pale, and her long, and wavy chestnut hair was too dark for her skin. Her eyebrows were a little on the thick side; her nose turned up a little too much. Her jade green eyes were dull with lost laughter. She could also do with gaining a little weight. The girl in the mirror stared back at her, bored and tired.

Sarah reached into the drawer and pulled out the wind up music box. It was gold and pink and depicted a beautiful young woman wearing a puffy white ballgown dancing alone in its centre. The melody had always struck a nerve within her, from around the time when she was fifteen. She was not so sure why. Nothing significant had happened to cause the emotions that came with hearing the tune. It simply made her feel sad, but safe at the same time. She watched the tiny dancer revolve on the spot for a few more seconds as she dragged a brush through her tangled locks. When she was done, she got to her feet and made her way to the bathroom, grabbing a towel from the airing cupboard on her way.

The hot water immediately caused the room to fill with steam, and the mirror and window became grey with condensation. She hurriedly scrubbed her body and hair with soap, even brushing her teeth in the shower. She wanted to clean the house as quickly as possible so that she could have time to herself before Karen returned with Toby.

She was done within minutes and she hurried back to her bedroom. She dug through her drawers for underwear. Pulling on jeans and a plain white t-shirt, she furiously rubbed her hair with the towel. She left it loose and still damp, then moved downstairs to the kitchen where she munched toast and milk.

Now, the work began. She washed the dishes and dried them, she vacuumed, dusted, polished and accidentally smashed one of Karen's crystal glasses. She swept up the fragments and tossed them in the trash can outside, praying the evil woman would not notice.

By the time she was completely finished, it was barely past ten o'clock and she collapsed onto the sofa. Lying on her stomach, she glanced up at the photograph of her father on the end table by the arm of the couch. She trailed her finger along the curve of his frozen smile.

"Daddy..." she sighed.

She jumped in fright as a loud thud sounded above her. Forcing herself to her feet, she cautiously made her way back up the stairs. She pushed the door to her bedroom open slowly.

And she jerked back in fear, a squeal escaping her.

In the very centre of the room, dusting feathers from his arms, was a man. He was tall. Taller than her by at least a head. His face was framed by wild blonde hair that stopped someplace below his shoulders. He was clad in the strangest outfit Sarah had ever seen. A mix of black clothing and midnight blue armor. He wore black leggings which clung to his every muscle, and she averted her eyes bashfully. He wore a black shirt under the breast plate and leather gloves. A dark cape flowed freely behind him.

There was something odd about him, Sarah thought. His skin seemed to be luminescent. As if there was a light just under it causing a slight glow. She was even sure she could see eye make-up, though it looked more like it was part of his actual skin. His eyes rose to meet hers when she yelped, and they were two different colours. One dark green, the other sky blue. His lips curled up into a rather feral smirk, reveaing a row of white teeth and two sharp-looking canines.

"Ah, there you are," he said in a strange clipped voice. "My, haven't you changed."

"Who are you?" she demanded bravely. "How did you get in here?"

The man frowned at her, confused for a moment. He tilted his head, regarding her from head to toe, and every body part in between. She took another step away from him out into the hall.

"You really _don't _remember, do you?" he asked, though the question seemed to be rhetorical, or at least directed at himself.

He took a bold step towards her and she moved away again.

"Don't come near me!" she hissed. "Get out of my house!"

"Is that any way to speak to a king, Sarah?" he scowled.

_A king...what?_

"How do you know my name?" she asked timidly, shying away from the strange man.

The man grinned maliciously again and started moving closer. A jolt of terror shot through her. What could this oddly-dressed man possibly want with her? She turned tail and sprinted away from him, almost tumbling down the stairs as she went.

She reached the front door and threw her hand out to grab the handle. She shrieked when a gloved hand wrapped around the wrist of her outstretched arm. The man pulled her away from the door and spun her around. She felt her back slam into the wall, and the man was suddenly inches from her. His hands trapped her against the wall, iron bars at either side of her shoulders. He himself was so close that she could feel his body heat brushing against her and could taste his sweet breath. And it was weirdly sweet.

She struggled to get herself further away from him, wishing the wall would swallow her and save her from him. She met his eyes and felt her lower lip trembling. In fact, she felt her whole body trembling. What did he want with her? Who was he? What if he was a robber? Or worse, a killer? She swallowed back her cry of fear at the thought of that.

What if he was a rapist?

Her hands came up to try to protect herself, but she did not touch him. She was far too scared to even dare.

"P-Please don't hurt me," she begged him in a small voice, tears threatening.

The man's expression was an unreadable mix of a frown and a smile. He moved one of his hands from the wall and trailed his finger down her cheek. She cringed away from his touch, but he did not stop.

"Why would I want to hurt you?" he asked with faint amusement. "I'm here to help you."

His thumb swept away a tear that escaped her.

"H-Help me?" she repeated. Her voice was shaky just as her whole body was. She was not sure how much longer she could remain on her feet.

"Yes, Sarah," he smiled, his hand going up to play with a lock of her hair. "I'm going to help you remember."

She swallowed, but her mouth was dry.

"Remember what?" she asked, curling in disgust from his wandering fingers which had made their way to her jaw.

"Everything."

He suddenly grabbed her shoulders in a painfully tight hold. Without any warning, Sarah suddenly became very dizzy, and stars were spinning around her and the strange man. She was completely weightless, but she felt incredibly unsteady. She felt sick. What was happening?

* * *

The pair of them landed with something of a thud in the middle of the throne room. He kept his hands tightly on Sarah, not letting her wriggle away. As Danu had said, she truly had changed, and in more ways than one.

She had most definitely grown from the teenager she once was into a true woman. Her hair had darkened and was rich and wavy. She had curves, too. Shapely, rounded breasts and a tiny waist which flared out, becoming her hips. Her waist was so tiny, in fact, that one might think she had been wearing corsets her whole life.

She had not grown in height, but in beauty. He hated the girl, but there was no denying that she was downright gorgeous. Very pleasing to the eye. And other organs.

But she also seemed incredibly timid and scared. The Sarah he remembered would have perhaps hit him, or something, instead of just giving in and pleading. The Sarah he once knew would have put up some kind of fight.

As soon as the dizziness passed, she roughly pushed against him. He released her, although it would have been too easy to keep her close, simply for the pleasure of tormenting her further. Which seemed to be oddly easy to do. She was definitely a more frightened creature than he remembered.

As soon as she took her third step away from him, the goblins swamped her. They clambered at her legs excitedly and began talking loudly.

"Pretty lady came back!"

"But lady didn't say the words!"

"Nope!"

"Lady must be magic!"

"Like King!"

Sarah shrieked and jumped away from the creatures she could not remember. The momentum propelled her straight into him. Her back hit his chest and she yelped again, whipping around to face him. He was a little surprised to see that she was truly terrified, her eyes wide and scared.

She had really forgotten everything and turned her back on her fairytales. The Sarah he rememebered would have accepted all of this with grace and maybe even excitement. This one was crying and shaking. A complete mess.

"What are those things?" she cried. "What are _you_?"

Jareth sighed, and remembered Danu's words to him. He held up his hand to the goblins and they all froze, falling silent.

"Out, all of you," he ordered. "And do not return until I give you permission."

With that, the fifty or so goblins scuttled from the room, dragging their chickens with them. He waited until he and Sarah were completely alone before letting out a haggard breath. Sarah turned to face him again, trembling more violently than he had ever thought was possible.

"Who are you?" she asked for the second time. "Please, what do you want?"

She was stumbling away from him, and she continued until her back hit the wall. Once impeded by the bricks, her breath hitched. She was trying not to cry, but was failing miserably at it. He thought it best not to go near her: he needed her to calm down.

He turned from her and walked to his throne, sinking into it leisurely. He sprawled himself out as he usually did. After all, he was not about to let the presence of the girl he hated make him uncomfortable, despite the fact that she herself was exactly that.

He chewed his tongue thoughtfully. So, he had her in his castle. Now the question was how to make her remember. He glanced over at her. She was still clinging to the wall, staring at him as if he was a wild animal that could bite at any time. _I am and I could, _he smirked.

Jareth got to his feet again and approached her, trying to be slow about it. She did not move away from him. Instead, she slid down the wall pathetically until she sat on the floor. She curled her knees up to her chest, and Jareth actually felt a pang in his chest for the pitiful little girl. She was trying to make herself a smaller target, thinking he was going to hurt her. She was terrified. He knelt down on one knee and took her chin gently, lifting her head. She closed her eyes.

"Open you eyes, Sarah," he commanded softly. She complied, lips trembling. Her pale jade eyes met his. "Do you know who I am? Do you remember?"

She shook her head: a jerky, quick movement.

"I-I'm sorry," she breathed. "I don't know what's going on. P-Please, I want to go home."

Her whining was getting on his nerves now. He gritted his teeth, but reminded himself he had to be gentle. With a girl he would have sooner seen dead.

"I'm afraid you can't go home," he whispered. "Not until you remember."

"Remember what?" she asked again.

"Me, the Labyrinth. The traitors you called friends. Everything."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" she shrieked, shoving his hand away. He moved back from her of his own accord and she pulled herself up. "You can't keep me here!"

He shrugged.

"Feel free to run," he snapped, gesturing to the door his goblins had exited through. "But you will never make it through the Labyrinth." _Not without a proper goal in mind._

Sarah glanced at the door, then at him. He held his arms out, telling her that he was not going to stop her. She ran, bolting through the half-open door and out of sight.

He smirked darkly to himself.

"You can run from me, but you can never hide."

* * *

Sarah's lungs were burning already, and she had only been running for around five minutes. She was in a city, she thought. It was thriving with those odd little creatures she had seen before. They ignored her as she sprinted between houses and shops, accidentally knocking over a stall of peppers. Eventually, she came to a set of gates which she pushed open and rushed through.

She was in some kind of junkyard, but she did not care. As long as she was away from that man. He radiated power, especially in his own domain. She sensed from him that he could hurt her so easily and he would have no qualms about doing it. His voice was soft and his touch was gentle, but she knew - though she did not know how she knew - that he hated her.

He continued to urge her to remember, but she had no idea what she was supposed to be remembering. Maybe he was insane. But that would hardly explain the magical transportation, strange creatures, and odd clothing choice. Was she dreaming? Yes, that was it. Her once overactive imagination was resurfacing. All she had to do was awaken.

She was forced to slow down when she reached a forest after clambering over layer of junk and debris. Her legs hurt and her lungs burned. She stopped and came to rest against a tree, panting wildly. She reached up and pinched herself on the shoulder. Nothing happened.

"Come on," she urged herself, slapping her face quickly. "Wake up!"

"Wake up?" someone called.

She turned to see where it was coming from, and leapt back in fright. They were...birds. Bright orange and yellow things taller than she was with huge, bulbous eyes and sharp teeth. She noticed that they had no wings, but they were covered in feathers and they did remind her of birds.

They were almost like a gang, laughing amongst themselves as they pointed at her.

"You's not dreamin', little lady!" another hollered.

"Not this time!"

"Or last time!"

The five of them burst into raucous laughter as they came closer. One suddenly leapt at her and grabbed her head.

"Does this thing come off yet?" he demanded.

"What? Of course it doesn't!"

She pushed herself away from them. They all hollered louder, and one gripped his own head...and yanked it right off! Sarah felt sick as she watched the rest copy his actions. They began throwing their decapitated heads around as if they were basketballs.

She ran past them, going deeper into the dark forest, away from all the danger behind her. The bird-people called after her.

"Hey, where you goin', girly?"

"Yeah, we was just gettin' started!"

They all cackled again, and she heard them following her.

"Leave me alone!" she screamed back at them.

She was still exhausted from her sprint from the mystery man, and now running from five birds, she was sure she would pass out. Sarah shrieked as her foot caught on something - probably a tree root - and she tumbled down a small hill. She rolled over and scrambled backwards, away from the oncoming gang of strange creatures. Her right ankle gave a painful twinge, but she could move no further. A large wall behind her stopped her.

The gang approached, laughing wildly. One grabbed her arm, the other grabbed her wrist. Both were trying to haul her to her feet. She pulled against them.

"Please, stop it!" she shouted.

One suddenly reached out and grabbed her ankle. She screamed, and they all froze. They leapt back, releasing her. She leaned forwards and placed her hands over the injured joint, trying to protect it from further harm.

The one who had grabbed her ankle moved forwards.

"You hurt, little lady?" he asked in a much calmer voice with something that resembled concern.

"Should we get the boss?" another mused.

"The...boss?" she asked.

"The king!"

_King...? _She remembered the man saying something about speaking to a king in such a way being rude. She could also remember one of the little brown creatures mentioning the word.

"No!" she yelled, causing them all to jump. "Don't get the king!"

Sarah wanted to be as far away from that man as possible. She used the wall to pull herself to her feet and she began limping away from the fiery creatures.

"Please don't tell him you saw me," she begged them.

"Sure, if ya say so, girly."

She continued on her way. Her ankle throbbed and twinged painfully with every step. She tried to cling to trees for support, but it only made her movements more awkward.

The sun managed to crack through the trees and it was very high in the sky, suggesting it was around noon. Her stomach gurgled loudly. She had not eaten for hours, and even then it had only been a slice of toast and a glass of milk. She powered on, though. She was not going to go back. Not to _him. _Whoever he was.

She must have walked for at least two hours before her ankle finally gave out and she could take the pain no more. She was still in the forest, so when she stumbled to the ground, she pulled herself to a tree and leaned her back against it. She breathed deeply, trying to calm herself and regain lost breath. She was actually dizzy.

She curled one leg up and hugged it to her chest. The one with the injured ankle remained straight on the ground. Her eyes fell closed. Maybe she could sleep for a few minutes before trudging forth some more.

"Are you quite finished?"

Sarah squealed in fright, her eyes flying open. He was dressed slightly differently now. He was still wearing the black shirt, breeches, boots, and gloves, but the armor was gone, as was the cape. His shirt was open to the waist, revealing a smooth, toned stomach and a strange pendant. It was sickle-shaped and silver, with a gold swirling symbol in the middle. She was sure she recognised it from...somewhere.

She did not know how to respond to his question, so she remained silent. She could not get up and run from him. He had found her in the middle of nowhere, after all. She was certain that he would be able to find her wherever she went. And her ankle was never going to let get far now.

She also knew that he was going to make her go back with him.

He took a step towards her.

"You _will_ come back with me, Sarah, and you _will _be staying with me. I hope you realise this."

She shook her head.

"Please," she said for what felt like the millionth time today. "I want to go home. My brother-"

"I am tiring of your incessant begging, Sarah," he interrupted, irritable. "I think you'll find that that does not work with me. It simply gets on my nerves."

_"I want my brother back, please! If it's all the same."_

_"What's said is said."_

A sharp pain suddenly shot through Sarah's head. She doubled over and clutched it tightly, a whimper escaping her. That was her voice! And his. But where was it coming from? Why did it hurt?

Someone was touching her shoulder. She jerked away from the man, blind due to the pain.

"What is it?" he asked.

"My head..." she managed.

"Stand up."

"I can't, my ankle is..."

The sentence trailed off. She could not concentrate. It hurt too much. She felt strong arms curl under her legs and around her shoulders. She was lifted into the air, but she struggled with him. She did not want to go back. She wanted to go home.

His hold tightened painfully, adding to the soreness already claiming her, and her arm was trapped between her body and his chest.

"That's enough," he growled. "If you continue to fight me, there will be consequences."

She let herself relax. It hurt too much. She was tired. She was hungry. And besides, relaxing in the arms of this intimidating, strange man seemed to bring her an odd level of comfort.

**So much happened. And yet, hardly anything happened. And that's hardly even the end of day one. Please review :3**


	3. 2: In Which Jareth Does A Good Deed

**The previous chapter was incredibly long compared to what I usually write, so let's hope that I can keep up with the lengthy ones for the sake of making me feel better about myself XD I seem to be having some delay problems with my e-mails, so if you review and I don't get back to you, that may be why.**

**ALSO: my other Labyrinth story HAS been updated but for some odd reason, no e-mails have been sent out to tell people. But it IS there :P**

Jareth pinched the bridge of his nose. She had barely been here a few hours, and already she had managed to run afoul of the damned fire gang, who had thankfully left her alone after a while. It would not do to have the Labyrinth's one last hope beheaded because of the complete stupidity of the creatures he ruled over. She had also managed to badly sprain her ankle. The only good thing to come of it was that she seemed to remember something.

He had asked her what she remembered, but she had complained that her head was too sore, and quickly passed out. He had transported them back to the castle and carried her to a guest room where he had left her to sleep and awake in peace. The last thing she probably wanted was to open her eyes and see a tall and scary Goblin King looming over her.

That had been almost an hour ago. It was approaching late afternoon now. He had ordered one of the cooks to make her something to eat and leave it in the room with her so that she did not have to eat in front of anyone. The next thirteen days were going to be awkward enough without over-dinner conversations.

Jareth dearly hoped she would not run away again. He did not have the time to be chasing her around his kingdom, probably only frightening her even more. He failed to understand why she was so afraid. It made sense that her personality would have changed and that she would be less accepting of magic after losing every memory of her time in the Underground, but it did not explain the level of terror she clearly felt, especially around him. He supposed that as a female having been forcefully taken from her home by a hot-blooded male such as himself, she had every right to be a little nervous, but it was hardly as if he was going to force himself on her. He'd sooner toss himself into the bog. Still, it would probably be a good idea not to disspell this fear of hers. It would keep her more securely under his control for the time being.

He looked up as an elderly female goblin entered. She was wearing a stained apron. _From the kitchens._

"Majesty," she greeted nervously. "The lady woke up."

"Where is she now?"

"In the kitchen," the goblin told him. "She's talkin' to some o' the goblins."

"At least she's no longer screaming at them," he muttered.

"Does his majesty want me to send her over?"

Jareth furrowed his brows in thought.

"No," he answered finally. "Let her be. Tell her she may go through any door that is open to her, but it would be inadvisable to run away again. I do think she's had quite enough for today."

The goblin bowed and turned.

"Also," Jareth called. "Tell her that whenever she feels ready, it's important to talk to me about what she remembers."

"Yes, majesty."

The goblin was gone and he was left to this thoughts again. Trying to be nice to Sarah Williams was going to be even more difficult this time than it had been almost eight years ago. That was without a doubt.

* * *

Sarah smiled at the tiny goblin. She only knew that that was what it was because an older goblin who was also much bigger had told her. She had awoken to find a sandwich by her side and had eaten it without a second thought. Afterwards, she'd bravely exited the room, her ankle no longer sore. She had travelled down the corridors, unsure as to where she was going when a commotion through a half-open door had caught her attention. The kitchen.

An elderly goblin had greeted her and explained that she was in the Castle Beyond the Goblin City and that the creatures she saw all around her were goblins and hardly anything for her to be afraid of. Apparently, they were under strict orders from their king not to harm her. This knowledge surprised her, but at the same time it did not, and she was not sure why. The elderly goblin, whose name was Catty, had explained that the man who had taken her was the King of the Goblins, and the Master of the Labyrinth. His name was Jareth. He was Fae. Sarah could scarcely remember the myth about the Fae from her teenage years, but not much other than they were supposed to be mythical and they did have a habit of stealing away...mortals.

Sarah had asked Catty why the King of the Goblins had taken her, but the old goblin did not know. One smaller and clearly younger goblin had piped up, "Things is breakin' down. King needs help." But that had made little sense to everyone. Catty had left her talking to the remaining goblins to deliver a message.

"Does you have that chewy thingy where yous is from?" one asked. "The stuff that makes the bubbles?"

"You mean...bubblegum?" she asked, laughing. "Yeah, that's still around."

"I's not likin' gum," another goblin said. "It sticks in my's hair. Can't swallow it."

Sarah giggled.

"You're not supposed to swallow it. You just chew it until it runs out of flavour."

"Whys is there food you not supposed to swallow?" a taller goblin demanded as if the very idea was ludicrous.

"I don't really know," Sarah mused. "I think you're supposed to chew that instead of chewing your nails or something."

The goblins chattered amongst themselves, and the tiny one who she was certain was called Jig approached her nervously.

"Lady, why'd you run from Kingy?" he asked. "Do yous not like him?"

The goblins all stared at her expectantly. Her mouth opened and closed a few times before she could answer them.

"Well," she began, choosing her words carefully. "What you all must understand is that your king kidnapped me from my house. All this...magic is new to me. I didn't know goblins existed until now. It was all a little too much and I was scared."

"But you was here before, 'member?" Jig asked.

"That's the thing," she said. "I don't remember. I'm going to try to, though."

"So, yous not run again?" he asked, hopeful.

Sarah opened her mouth, not sure of her answer. But thankfully, Catty chose this moment to hurry back through the door.

"His majesty has said that you're free to go through any doors that open," Catty told her. "He also adivses that you shouldn't run away again, he feels that you've had enough for one day. He says that you should also go tell him what you remember - when you're ready, of course."

Sarah nodded absently.

She glanced around at the sound of an oven opening, watching a goblin take out a tray of small cakes. She grinned.

"What are those for?" she asked.

"The kids," Catty explained.

"Kids?"

"Yes. His majesty takes kids who are wished away by people Aboveground. That's where you come from."

Sarah was sure her ears had deceived her for the millionth time today.

"He..._takes_ kids?"

"He doesn't hurt 'em, if that's what you're thinking," Catty said. "He just looks after 'em for a few hours while the wisher tries to get through the Labyrinth to get the kid back."

The Labyrinth...the king had mentioned that before she had run from him. She had never actually made it to the Labyrinth, but she was not really curious about it.

"What happens to the kids if the 'wisher' doesn't get him or her back?"

"His majesty adopts them out to human or Fae families who don't have kids here. Once or twice, he's had to keep them, but when they get old enough, he lets them decide what they want to do."

"Have any ever stayed?"

"No."

Sarah snorted. That sure said a lot about the king, if none of the kids he kept ever stayed with him. Catty grinned knowingly.

"It's not what you think," she reassured her. "There's a whole lot of Underground to see and if you grow up here, it gets borin' after a while. They want to get out a bit and explore."

Sarah was doubtful, but she kept her opinions to herself. She did not want to argue with anyone in this place, lest she should make enemies.

She stayed in the kitchens for a while, and even ended up teaching the goblins how to make cookies. But after the third batch was ready, she realized that there was no avoiding the king. He expected her to tell him what she remembered. And she _did _remember something. Which meant the man - Fae - was not a complete lunatic.

She bade the goblins goodbye and moved through the corridors. She really had no clue where she was going, but she guessed that the castle's throne room would be somewhere above the kitchens. When she finally found a set of stairs leading up, she climbed them and took a right. An open arch stood on her left and she recognised it as being the one she had rushed through earlier to escape. She glanced down at the massive double doors down the corridor. She could go now. She could try to escape again. But Catty's words stuck in her head.

_"...you've had enough for one day."_

With a sigh, Sarah realized this was true. She did not have the energy to run again, only to be lost in that forest. She resigned herself.

Peeking timidly around the wall, she glanced into the throne room. The king was there, lounging lazily on the throne itself as if he could not care less about anything. She blushed when her eyes travelled to his midriff. Did he _have _to wear such tight leggings?

He seemed so much less threatening when he was sprawled in a chair with his head thrown back and his eyes closed. It made her hesitant to disturb him and possibly invoke that demeanour he adopted which scared her so.

"Um...Goblin King?" she whispered uncertianly.

His eyes opened and he sat up a little straighter, but otherwise did not move. He regarded her, half-hidden by the wall.

"There's no need to stand there," he muttered. "The room won't bite."

Sarah noted his word choice. Perhaps the room would not bite, but that did not necessarily mean _he _wouldn't. Tentatively, she moved through the arch and into the room. She did not move all the way in, though, stopping just short of the pit in its centre. She did not want to be too close to him.

"I...I remember us...talking," she said, unsure. "I think I was asking you for something. We were in my parents bedroom. You said...'What's said is said'. I think. There was other stuff too, but I don't know exactly what."

"Anything else?" he asked sharply.

"I...I was crying," she muttered. "I was really scared."

The king shook his head.

"A tiny sliver of a memory," he growled. "It is not enough!"

Sarah jumped when he raised his voice.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly. "I'm trying, but there's nothing else."

"How is your ankle?" he asked abruptly.

The suddeness of the question threw her off guard slightly, and for a few seconds she could not answer. She nervously opened and closed her mouth.

"It's...fine."

The king nodded and leaned back again, closing his eyes. Sarah stood awkwardly for a few more seconds before she realized he was giving her a silent dismissal. She took several steps backwards before turning at the arch and walking away from him.

Now that she was not in his presence, she felt strangely breathless. As if she'd been holding her breath the entire time she'd been in the same room as him. Perhaps she had.

She tried to shake off the fear he induced in her as she travelled the corridors once more, going up and down cases of stairs, and probably getting herself thoroughly lost. She did notice, though, that only certain doors opened for her. Most of them were guest bedrooms, and she even happened across a bathroom once, but chose not to linger. Other doors had golden plaques mounted on the wall next to them. One plaque read "Escher IV", but when she pulled on the handle, it did not budge. One of the doors labelled "Escher" was also labelled "Under Construction."

At some point, she reached a corridor where none of the doors matched in any way, and their plaques made no sense at all. Some of them read "Oubliette" with roman numerals beside them. Sarah hadn't a clue what an Oubliette was, but the doors here would not open for her anyway. Other plaques told her that there were such rooms as "Fiery Forest" and "Bog of Eternal Stench". She chose not to even touch either of these doors.

She encountered another set of stairs leading downwards and was completely thrilled to find a corridor full of doors that made more sense. Things like "Ballroom III" and "Library". She loved reading, and it did not appear that there was any electricity in this castle for watching TV, so she pushed the door open. She was thankful that it did so at all as most of the doors seemed to be wedged shut.

The library was massive. A true library with shevles that reached the very high ceiling. There were ladders leaning against certain shelves so that she could reach the higher books. There were so many books, in fact, that a lot of them were piled on the floor in uneven stacks in the corners and against any free walls. To the right of the room, there was a desk which a very old-looking goblin sat at, flicking boredly through a tattered tome. It paid her no mind as she walked into the room, staring with wonder at everything she saw. In the left corner of the room there was a fireplace which was lit. That was a good thing as it was incredibly cold in the massive room. There were deep red armchairs and a two-seater sofa around the fire. It looked cosy.

She moved to the nearest shelf, glancing at the names of the books. Most were in English and some language that she didn't recognise, but there were also titles in languages she _did _recognise such as French and Spanish. Most were old, and looked like original copies. There was a wide variety of fiction and even some books such as teaching young children how to bake.

She read their titles, amused. _Dracula _by Bram Stoker. _The Diary of Anne Frank. _There was one in French that read_ Désherber le Jardin. _Sarah did not speak much French, but she recognised the word for garden.

Laughing quietly to herself, she pulled out some romance novel and made her way to the corner where the fire roared. It was much warmer over here, and she settled down into the sofa easily.

* * *

Jareth was glad when the moon finally rose and the clock chimed for midnight. He was bored, and relatively tired after dealing with Sarah. He got to his feet and made his way upstairs, aiming to go to bed and sleep as long as possible.

Or at least, that _had _been his plan until one particularly small and high-pitched goblin approached him.

"Majesty, the lady!" he said. "She's fall asleep in room with books."

Jareth shook his head at the terrible grammar.

"A room with books?" he repeated. "The library?"

The goblin nodded enthusiastically. Jareth rubbed his forehead. He was half-tempted to leave her there to freeze to death or perhaps get a cold or something, but he could not have her getting ill.

"Alright, I'll see to it."

The goblin skipped off. Jareth sighed and turned right around to make his way to the library. He had expected that she would find the room with relative ease and spend some time in there, but not that she would have fallen asleep.

He pushed the door open slowly and glanced to the corner where the embers in the fireplace were still glowing softly. Other than that, there was no light in the room. He leisurely strolled towards the corner and peered around the back of the sofa.

Sarah was sound asleep, curled up on her side. Her head rested on the arm of the sofa, but they were separated by her own arm which curved up to cushion her face. Her breathing was soft. In fact, she even seemed to be snoring lightly, but it was a sweet, and oddly feminine sound.

It was strange, he thought. Here she was, delightfully vulnerable before him. Powerless in her deep sleep, and with no goblins around to distract him from what he could do to her. And yet...he didn't want to. He would never kill her: she was too important to the revival of his kingdom for that, but before, he'd had no qualms about hurting her (though he did not wish the pain of the regaining of her memories on her again). This was the perfect oppurtunity to do so, though, perhaps give her a nightmare or two. But he didn't want to.

Somewhat fascinated, he reached down slowly and pulled a lock of hair from her face. She didn't even twitch. He sighed and moved around the sofa. He took the book from her hand and placed it down on the table, open at the page she had stopped reading. With a flick of his fingers and a twist of his hand, the fire was burning bright and warm again and she was covered with a thick blanket. She sighed contentedly in her sleep, snuggling down into the warmth. Unconsciously, he smiled.

Things were never simple with Sarah Williams. Never.

**So, maybe Jareth doesn't hate Sarah all that much. Or maybe he's just a sucker for sleeping damsels ;P Please review :3**


	4. 3: In Which Sarah Angers The King

**I really do like this story :3 I'm having a blast writing it. Yippee for chapter 3! (See that? I made it rhyme)**

Sarah stretched her body out to its fullest length, tightening every muscle she had control over. She held it for a few seconds, a strained groan escaping her before she relaxed everything, curling back up under the warm blanket.

Wait a second, warm blanket?

Her eyes flew open and she sat up wildly. She was still in the library. Everything came back to her suddenly. It really had not been a dream. She fingered the blanket carefully, wondering how it had even gotten there as she definitely did not remember _that_. She yawned and glanced around. The book she had been reading was still open, facing down on the table. The goblin behind the desk was still there and he hadn't bothered her all night.

She moved her legs so that her feet were touching the floor. She bit her lip. What was she supposed to wear every day? The jeans and t-shirt she wore were hardly going to last forever, and the same applied to her underwear. She did have sneakers on simply because she did not like to be without shoes and so had put them on yesterday.

Getting to her feet, she went in search of food. She managed to find her way back to the kitchen with relative ease and the goblins here were all too happy to make her whatever she wanted. She ate a lot and continued until she was full. Once she was finished with that, however, she was at a loss. She desperately wanted to brush her teeth and felt sure that she needed a shower. She also needed a change of clothing and underwear. She felt certain that the room she had awoken in yesterday was her own allotted one, but she had no idea where that was.

Deciding that it was better to ask than suffer in silence, she approached Catty.

"Um, Catty?" the goblin looked up from the bread dough she was kneading. "Do you think you could show me where I'm supposed to be staying?"

The goblin ushered another over to continue kneading the dough, then Catty led her out of the kitchens and through the never-ending hallways again.

"There's a bathroom attached to your room," Catty explained as they climbed a set of stairs. "His majesty's provided you with clothes but they're probably not what you're used to."

Sarah shrugged to herself. It hardly mattered as long as she _was _clothed, and she could only be grateful that the king was granting her this luxury. Catty led her up a further set of stairs, and she was confused. She was certain that her trip to the kitchens from her room before had not entailed going down more than one set of stairs. Regardless, she chose not to question it. In a world where goblins existed, and otherworldly Fae kings ruled, she supposed anything could be possible.

They walked half the length of a final corridor and Catty pointed to a door.

"That's you," she said.

"Thanks a lot," Sarah smiled.

The goblin returned the smile and scurried away again. Sarah hurried through the door and closed it behind her. Now that she was more interested, she had a chance to see the room itself.

The furniture was cherry wood and highly polished. The head of the bed was pushed up against the far wall, jutting out into the centre of the room. It was a massive, four-poster thing with emerald green sheer drapes and dark green sheets. The floor-length curtains matched. To the left of the room was another door, also cherry. She suspected that led to the bathroom Catty had told her of. In the left corner of the room along the wall the bathroom door was on was a vanity case with a large mirror mounted on the wall behind it. Opposite that on the right wall was a huge cherry wardrobe with little drawers under it.

The room would have been dark due to the thick curtains were it not for the small chandalier hanging from the ceiling. She moved towards the curtains to let more natural light in, and threw them open. She gasped a little. There was not a window here, as she had expected, but a large set of french glass doors leading onto a balcony that was made of the same brownish stone as the floor and walls.

Sarah had to smile a little in appreciation. Sure, she had been taken against her will, but at least she was being well-cared for. What more could she really ask for?

She opened the doors with ease and made her way to the edge of the balcony. The view made her breath catch. It was...breathtaking. She could see the gardens of the castle, lush green fields stretching for what must have been a mile outwards. They were filled with flowers of every shape and size, and there were stone patios in certain corners, benches, ornate stone gazebos, and even a pond. She could see birds and other strange tiny creatures fluttering around, but they were too small for her to see properly.

Beyond the gardens was the Goblin City she had not had a chance to look at. The houses were made of stone and were tall with faintly smoking chimneys. She could also see a large square with a fountain in the middle. Littered up the streets were stalls which probably sold things such as food and merchandise. Surrounding the walls of the city was a large junkyard with debris piling so high, it was almost eye level with the balcony she now stood on. Strangely, the junk did not alter the beauty of the view. Beyond even that was a large forest which she assumed was the one she had gotten lost in. It was sprinkled with a thin layer of what appeared to be glitter.

A wall surrounded the forest too. Somewhere to the left of the forest was a large brown pool. It looked tiny from where she was but she suspected that it was actually a lot bigger. After that came a maze. It was the largest she had ever seen, stretching for miles. Some of it was shrubbery, but most of it was stone. She was sure if anyone did manage to get through it, they would never get out.

_"Even if you get to the centre of the Labyrinth, you'll never get **out** again."_

Sarah's head suddenly throbbed sharply with a pain so intense that she stumbled backwards and fell. It blinded her. She clutched her head as if that would make it stop, but nothing.

That voice...it was gruff and cold, but she recognized it. The image of a short old man with bright blue eyes came to mind. What was his name? Her head pounded painfully again. She _knew _him. She had talked with him. Hugged and kissed him! Who was he? And why did it hurt so much?

She groaned at the pain. Why wouldn't it stop?

"Sarah?" a voice asked.

She jerked away from the king's voice in panic, but her back came up against the walls of the balcony. She felt her own nails digging into her scalp, but it did not hurt. The other pain was overshadowing it.

Gloved fingers removed her hands from her hair.

"Sarah?" the king asked again.

"It hurts..." she gritted out, fighting against him to try to grab her head again. Her resistance made him growl, but she hardly noticed.

His hands went to her head, thumbs trailing her temples carefully. And strangely - blissfully - the pain started to lessen. She relaxed, and her vision returned in an instant, as if her eyes had been closed. She remained completey still until the king pulled away from her and the pain was completely gone.

He rose to his feet gracefully and courteously held out his hand. She hesitated before allowing him to pull her up.

"What did you remember?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "A Dwarf with blue eyes told me I wouldn't get out of the Labyrinth."

"Hmm," was all the king said, gazing off into the distance.

Sarah turned to look out at the maze again.

"Is that the Labyrinth?" she asked, pointing to it.

"The maze is only part of it," the king explained. "Everything from the outer wall to the gates of Goblin City is the Labyrinth."

"It doesn't look _that _difficult," she reasoned.

From the corner of her eye, she saw the king smirk. It sent chills down her spine.

"It's harder than you think," he said. "The Labyrinth is full of prison holes called Oubliettes which tend to crop up where you least expect them. And there are things in there that are specifically for distracting and throwing the runner off the true path. There is also a section of it which leads underground, and there are dangerous things down there."

"Aren't we Underground now?" she asked, remembering what Catty had told her. Underground and Aboveground.

The king grinned again.

"In a manner of speaking. The Underground is a world separate from yours and yet joined. In your world, creatures like goblins do exist, they just go by unseen by those who are not open to them. Here, magical creatures and humans live together in harmony...somewhat," he added.

Sarah stiffened for a moment.

"S-Somewhat?"

"I highly doubt that talk of slaves and their masters will interest you, Sarah."

She shivered and shook her head. But at the same time, she couldn't help wondering why she and the king did not have a relationship like that. Surely he had not kidnapped her just so she could...remember? Although thus far he had not harmed her in any way. Desipte his sharp and cold voice, he had been generally kind to her.

She shook herself of that thought. Just because he had done nothing _yet, _that did not give her the liberty to trust him. He was not to be trusted. He had kidnapped her, brought her back when she'd tried to run. And had the ability to teleport. She had to wonder what else he could do, but she did not ask. She was not sure she wanted to know.

Sarah fidgited uncomfortably. She wanted to take a shower and brush her teeth, but how did one go about dismissing an intimidating king in his own castle?

"Um...was there anything you...wanted to say?" she asked, trying to sound polite. "I-I need to brush my teeth...and...stuff."

"I simply came to make sure you had found your room after you fell asleep in the library last night," he brushed, turning away from her. He paused though. "Come and find me in the throne room once you're dressed. I'm having a guest today, and it's best that you're preoccupied while he's here."

With that, he continued on his way. Once he was safely out of the room, she made her way back inside and into the bathroom. This room was completely different. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all made of white marble. The large bathrub in the corner of the room was made of contrasting dark green marble, matching the colours of the room next door. The toilet and sink were also green. A wide floor-length mirror was mounted on the wall opposite the bath and she glanced at herself in it.

She was still too slim and too pale. Sighing, she closed the door and grabbed a towel from the silver rack on the wall. Despite the immense size of the tub, it took relatively no time at all to fill. Relishing in the hot water and strawberry-scented bubbles, she quickly stripped off and sank down into the water.

Even trying to relax in the water was difficult. Thoughts of home were plaguing her mind. Karen could go to hell for all she cared, but she missed Toby immensely. She wondered if he was okay. Surely he was upset. Hadn't she promised him she was never going to leave him? She pushed tears away. Perhaps if she asked the king nicely...he would let her at least say goodbye.

Sarah scrubbed her body with soap and washed her hair quickly. Once she was out of the tub, she wrapped the thick, fluffy towel around herself and approached the sink. There was what appeared to be an unused toothbrush laying on it and even a new squeezy tube of Aquafresh. These things seemed oddly out of place amongst everything she had seen so far, but once again, she didn't question it. _Anything is possible, _she reminded herself.

Moving into the bedroom, she glanced at the wardrobe. The clothes in there certainly weren't going to put themselves on her. She reached into drawers under it and discovered basic cotton panties, but no bras or socks. Did that mean...she was going to have to wear...a dress? As a child, she would have leapt for joy at the idea, but now it seemed ridiculous.

She pulled on the panties and took a deep breath before opening the wardrobe itself. There were dresses alright. Several of them. She groaned, but there did not appear to be any other option. Perhaps pretending to be a little girl again would not be so bad...for a while. She reached in and pulled out a lavender dress. It was floor-length with a pale green bodice that almost matched her eyes. She immediately saw why there was no need for a bra. The bodice of the dress would support her breasts almost better than any bra. Above the bodice, the dress returned to lavender.

Glancing around, she dropped the towel and stepped into the dress. She had no trouble getting it to fit as the bodice laced up at the front with white ribbon. She glanced at herself in the mirror. The neckline curved gently down over her breasts and then curled back up to her shoulders. She scowled. The tightness of the bodice and the lowness of the neckline was a little too revealing for her liking. The sleeves were sheer and flowed freely to her wrists. The same applied to the skirt in that from her hips downwards it flared outwards ever-so-gently.

Grabbing a pair of matching slippers and patting her hair gently with the towel, she realized something. She felt...pretty. She felt even more so when her hair seemed to dry quickly and of its own accord. Her wavy dark locks held a brand new shine to them and even her skin seemed to have rid itself of all spots and blemishes. _Magic soap? _she laughed. She ran a brush through her hair and sighed. Talking to the Goblin King was always awkward because she felt like his kindness was covering up a severe dislike.

Wondering what she had ever done to him, she made her way into the corridor. She was unsure as to how to get to the throne room, so she found the kitchen instead and walked to the throne room from there. Once again, she found herself standing off to the side of the arch, unsure.

Taking a deep breath, she moved through the arch and approached the king, stopping at the edge of the pit again. He was not lounging in his throne as he had been before, but he was on his feet by the window. If it could even be called that. There was no glass in it, so it was really more like a round hole in the wall. He was leaning against it with one arm above his head, staring out into the Labyrinth. She cleared her throat to make her presence known.

The king turned slightly, as if surprised she was there, then he seemed to catch himself. He smiled one of those deadly smiles at her, revealing sharp canines again. She noticed his eyes lingering appreciatively over her form in the dress, but chose to ignore that also. She probably would have had the same reaction. In fact, she _had. _

"As I said earlier, I'm having a guest over later," he explained. "I should warn you that he has been known to be unkind to mortals such as yourself, so I would advise you to keep your distance for today. If you remember something, write it down or do your best to remember it. As before, feel free to go through any door that opens but stay away from the dining room and the tower." Sarah nodded at that. She had not even known there _was _a tower. "If you should require company, there are always goblins sitting about doing nothing. Any questions?"

This startled her for a moment.

"Um...actually, I was wondering if it would be okay for me to go into the gardens," he stammered quietly.

He frowned thoughtfully for a moment.

"I don't see why not," he mused. "But do not stray beyond the pond, I think you'll find the world becomes a darker place when you do. And do be careful of the fairies: they bite."

He flashed her another unsettling grin and she shivered.

"If that's all," he muttered, turning away again.

"Well," she started to say. When he looked back at her, her face flamed. Why did it have to be so awkward? "I was wondering...I'm not even really sure how to say this..." She glanced at him, as if he would perhaps know the answer. "My...my little brother, Toby. I promised him I'd never leave him and..."

"You should never make promises you cannot keep, Sarah," the king scolded.

Her anger flared.

"I didn't expect to be kidnapped!" she snarled.

"Watch your tone," he hissed back.

"Or what?" she challenged.

Sarah realized immediately after she said it that she'd made a mistake. The eyes of the Goblin King flared frighteningly and he was stalking towards her. Before she could even register what was happening, the king had his hand on her chest just under her collarbone and was pushing her back until her back hit the wall. His other hand pressed against the stone itself, trapping her.

Her legs trembled a little at his proximity. His hand moved from her chest to rest on the wall beside her and he moved closer still. His body brushed against hers lightly, but there was nowhere for her to go to escape. The king leaned down so that his hair tickled her nose.

"Or I will be forced to discipline you," he growled darkly. "You seem to forget that you are talking to a king, and one does not challenge the king without facing the consequences. In fact, I do believe this is the second time I've had to warn you about speaking out of turn to me. One would think you might learn something."

His body pressed against hers, his breath blowing gently over her, she could not concentrate. The tip of his nose was barely brushing hers.

"I-I-"

"Yes, Sarah?" he asked softly. "Is there something you are perhaps sorry for?"

She could not speak: couldn't even nod her head.

"I have been generous up until now," he warned. "But I can be cruel."

That blinding pain resounded in her head a third time. Sarah uttered a scream, but clenched her jaws together. Through her closed eyes, she could see a man dressed in white and feathers with a flowing, tattered cape. He was holding something out to her. Those words echoed through her.

The pain knocked her completely off her feet and she fell to the side. She could not even comprehend the fact that her skull would smash against the stone floor at any moment. But that particular pain did not come. She felt arms around her, preventing her from falling. Absently, she knew she was being lowered to the floor, but she could not focus on that. Only the pain that made her want to scream until her blood curdled.

Then fingers were at her temples, and the pain subsided instantly. Sarah released a loud gasp of relief, cracking an eye open. She blushed a little. The Goblin King was kneeling down, and she was lying half-between his legs. Her back was resting against his inner thigh and his other leg was bent over her limp ones so that he was practically leaning over her. His arms were still around her from when he'd prevented her fall.

"You-You've said that before," she said breathlessly. "I think. It was your voice...in white."

She looked up into his curiously mismatched eyes and was shocked to discover pain there. It was gone in the blink of an eye though.

"Why would you promise your brother something like that? You know life can be unpredictable."

"Because he needs me," she choked out, shocked to feel tears lingering in her throat. "Our father died, and my step-mother is horrible. Toby was always worried about Karen kicking me out, but I promised him I'd never leave."

The Goblin King sighed, but said nothing as he got to his feet, pulling Sarah with him. He regarded her for a few more seconds before turning around, and moving away.

"You are dismissed."

Feeling somewhat put out, she turned and practically ran from the room. Intimidating as hell was what the Goblin King was. And ever-changing. One minute, he was the domineering, arrogant king; the next, he was the somewhat tender man concerned for her welfare. He was mostly the former, she thought bitterly.

* * *

It was getting dark, Sarah noted as she glanced towards the sky. The sun was just about to set fully in the distance, meaning the land would be plunged into darkness soon.

She had been in the garden for the better part of the whole day, wandering back and forth, but never straying further than the pond just as the king had advised. She had decided that getting on his bad side was definitely not an option, which mean disobeying him was not an option either.

She had managed to stay out of the way of the sharp-toothed fairies, for which she was thankful. They seemed to have a fondness for biting each other, and she did not want to be on the receiving end of one of those. After wandering the gardens for a few hours, she had traipsed back inside to get something to eat and grab a book. She'd been reading said book since then.

Sarah waited until the sun was completely hidden by the distant hills before getting to her feet. She walked slowly over the grass until she reached the set of glass doors that allowed her back inside. Feeling tired, she hurried to the library and replaced the book, and then ran down to the kitchen so grab a snack. The goblins in there, including Catty, wished her goodnight and she smiled at them all.

She was able to locate her bedroom with relative ease from the kitchen and was thankful when the door shut with a click behind her. She kicked the slippers off and loosened the ties of the bodice of the dress. It was not that it was uncomfortably tight - because in fact, it was rather comfortable - it was just that she wanted complete comfort.

She did not know what she expected when she opened the drawer at the bottom of the wardrobe, but she knew it should not have surprised her. She sort of wished there were proper pyjamas in here, but was sorely disappointed. They were all chemises, either linen, cotton or silk. She pulled out the one on the top. White cotton. It would probably reach her mid-thigh or lower. It was as good as any, she decided.

Hurriedly pulling the dress off herself, she slipped into the comfortable chemise. Her legs were oddly bare for the first time in several years unless one counted her few escapades in a bathing suit. Which she did not. It was hardly as if she strolled around in bikinis very often.

After brushing her teeth, she slipped into the bed for the first time, and had to sigh appreciatively. The mattress was warm and cushy, but the pillows were cold as were the sheets. She rolled onto her side and curled up, letting sleep claim her.

**So, not an awful lot happened here. Sarah remembered some stuff and Jareth got annoyed. But there will be something in the next chapter which people seem to love. So review :D**


	5. 4: In Which Jareth Defends Sarah

**Yay for this chapter. I forget what number it is, but yay for it. It's a slightly shorter one which is why it was posted so quick.**

It was very early morning when Sarah jumped awake for no apparent reason. She yawned and frowned. How was it possible for her to be so awake at whatever hour this was? She stretched herself out and slipped from the bed. The cold stone floor was a shock to her feet, but she quickly got over that.

Thinking that hot chocolate would be a good cure for her sudden alertness, she moved to the door and opened it. The blast of cold air was immediate and she hissed, closing the door again. Okay, so she would not be going out dressed as scantily as she was. She opened the wardrobe and dug into the back of it. She was pleased to find a robe, but when she pulled it out and discovered it was silk and deep red, her face fell. Still, it was not as if anyone was going to see her.

She pulled it on and tightened the sash around her waist before braving the cold corridor again. It was not as chilly with the red silk surrounding her arms, but she still shivered all the way down to the kitchen. Tiny candles lining the walls were her only source of light, and it was hardly enough. Luckily, the corridor was completely straight and she had already memorised the number of stairs she had to go down to reach the kitchen.

She reached the door when a voice spoke, freezing her where she was.

"And what have we here?"

The voice was distinctly male: low and rumbly, almost a growl. And it definitely did not belong to the Goblin King. This voice was deeper and less clipped, but decidedly just as harsh.

Swallowing, she turned to face him. He was...massive. A six foot something wall of muscle with a cruel gaze. Even through his clothes, Sarah could see muscle rippling and flexing. As her eyes travelled up his body to his face, she cringed back, seeing that his eyes were raking her form too, almost hungrily, and lingering in all the wrong places. He licked his lips and flicked his wavy black hair from his face. His eyes were completely black. Even the whites were a darker shade of grey.

"Don't _you _look ravishing tonight."

She took an unconscious step back from him, and regretted it. His face took on the expression of victory. It was more of a fiendish joy than a genuinely happy one.

"Who are you?" she asked, though she was certain this was the guest the Goblin King had warned her to stay away from.

He grinned, leering.

"A guest."

"Oh..."

She grasped the handle of the door, purposefully casual, hoping that she could get into the kitchen and that he would leave her alone. However, without warning, his hand shot out to grab her wrist, twisting it away from the handle. It hurt, and she was yanked closer to him. Too close. She pulled.

"Let go," she muttered.

His hand was so large, that she was sure he would be able to fit the whole thing around her small waist. He circled his arm around her and yanked her closer still so that she was pressed hard against him. Sarah's face darkened with fear and embarrassment when she felt his excited hardness pressing against her stomach. With her free hand, she shoved against him, but it seemed all that muscle was not merely for show. His chest was hard as a rock.

As she struggled silently with him, the robe slipped from around her shoulders. He suddenly leaned down and bit hard into her exposed flesh. She whimpered in pain, body shaking.

"Stop!" she hissed, shoving against him harder.

He suddenly reached down, large hands curling around the backs of her thighs. He heaved her up and pressed her hard against the wall. She cringed, feeling his hardened self pressing against her between her open legs.

"What are you doing?" she demanded, a quiver in her voice betraying the terror she was so desperately trying to cover.

One of his hands suddenly made sickening contact with the side of her face. She shrieked in pain, stars dancing in the corner of her eyes. She felt her arms yanked upwards, and his massive hand was holding hers well above her head, leaving no room for her to protest. And leaving her body vulnerable to attack.

She wriggled wildly, but whoever this man was, he only smirked wider, tongue dancing just inside his open mouth with pleasure. With a jolt of horror, she realized just what her wiggling was doing. She ceased immediately.

"Oh, no, keep doing that," he purred.

His hands fumbled down her breasts, but she failed at jerking her arms out of his grip. He was thrusting, but they were thankfully separated by her underwear and his breeches. She felt tears threaten, she was utterly terrified. How could this possibly be happening? Kidnap and sexual assault all in two days!

"No!" she pleaded. "Stop it!"

"Hush, now," he snarled. "We wouldn't want Jareth to hear."

"Jare..." She stopped, realising who he was talking about. With the newfound knowledge that this man - being - was not supposed to be here, she opened her mouth and screamed.

* * *

The scream that rang through the castle sent an odd shiver through Jareth. It was utterly bloodcurdling, and he decided he did not like it one bit. He immediately transported himself to where it was coming from: just outside of the kitchens.

Sarah was truly tiny compared to Revin. His massive body was near crushing her to the wall as he tried to force himself on her. Even with her hands pinned above her, he could see a large, red bite mark on her shoulder. On her left cheek was a red mark that was slowly but surely turning purple.

She was crying; whimpering and struggling weakly, but as Jareth well knew, Revin was relentless in his attacks on women, especially mortals. Begging never worked with him. If anything, it drove him on. And there was no way someone like Sarah could compete with his strength. His hands roamed wildly up her body, and there was absolutely nothing she could do.

Jareth curled his fist in some kind of possessive anger and growled. This seemed odd to him, but he pushed it aside for now.

"Revin, do take your hands off what doesn't belong to you," he hissed.

The Fae froze, and leapt away from Sarah so fast that she fell to the ground with a rather pronounced crack. Drawing that delightful scarlet robe tighter around herself, she scrambled away from Revin, climbing to her feet somewhere along the way. She rushed straight over to Jareth, and actually hid behind him, grabbing the sleeve of his shirt and barely peeking around him. This surprised him, although he supposed it would be easier for her to trust him as he had not tried to force her the way Revin had.

In fact, it almost warmed his heart to think that she trusted him to protect her from the big bad wolf.

"I seem to remember telling you specifically to leave and never come back," Jareth continued, glaring at Revin. "Not only have you disregarded the orders of a king in his own kingdom, you have attempted to harm someone under the king's care. What do you think I am feeling right now?"

He watched in amusement as Revin flailed for a moment, unable to answer. Then, his expression changed to something of malice, and Jareth frowned at him.

"Come on, Jareth," he urged. "I'll pay any price you're asking if you let me keep her."

There was silence for a moment. An incredibly tense silence in which Jareth's anger nearly got the better of him. He reached his arm around and shoved Sarah a little so that she was more securely shielded from Revin's leer.

"Do show some tact," Jareth scolded. "She is standing right here."

"Are you joking?" Revin demanded. "Well, I suppose I do see where you're coming from. She's got one slick little body on her. You _would _want to keep her to yourself."

Sarah jerked behind him.

"Hold your tongue, you piece of filth," Jareth spat. "And do not talk about what you know nothing of. As to you 'buying' Sarah from me, I think not. Now, you have thirteen seconds to get out of my kingdom before I rip out each of your teeth one by one and hand them out to my goblins as toys. And do not even think of showing your face here again."

The Fae regarded Jareth carefully before turning on the spot and disappearing from sight. He glared at the place he'd gone from for a few more seconds before turning slowly, willing Sarah to release his shirt. When she did not, he took her elbow gently and coaxed her around so that she was facing him.

She truly was terrified and it was almost getting on his nerves. What on earth had happened to the old Sarah?

"Are you sure he's gone?" she asked, glancing around nervously.

"Yes."

"Th-Thank you," she stammered. "I mean, he was-"

"Strong?" Jareth supplied. "Yes, Revin is reknowned for his strength. Luckily for you, I am much stronger and he knows that."

He could see that this knowledge frightened her, but did not care. This was simply another way to keep her under his control.

He scowled down at the darkening bruise blossoming over her cheekbone. That was going to cause her a lot of pain by tomorrow morning. He reached out slowly and touched the purple mark. She winced in pain, but he ignored that and moved to her shoulder, slipping the robe out of the way so he could view the mark. It was bleeding, but barely.

Jareth was not entirely sure why he asked the question he did next. He should not even care, one way or another. She was still alive, was she not? And relatively unharmed.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

She nodded quickly, staring at him as if she too was wondering why he cared enough to ask.

He lifted his hand and pressed it to the middle of her back. Giving her a small push, he guided her up the corridor again.

"Come, I'll see you back to your room."

* * *

Sarah could feel her face warming with embarrassment. Why had she run to the Goblin King so suddenly? She could not help herself. It was almost as if she knew that on some level he would not let any harm come to her, at least not by Revin's hands. And he hadn't. He had defended her honour and kept her hidden from his leer. But still! She was so mortified! She had hidden behind him like a scared little kitten! She had grabbed him in an effort to give herself some peace of mind. Surely he was laughing at her in his own head right now.

Despite her discomfort, the hand he had placed on her back to push her gently alongside him was relaxing her, albeit only a little. She was grateful that he was walking with her at all: Revin was assuredly gone, but she was still jumpy. Sure, the king of the goblins scared her, but at least she knew he was not totally insane. There _was _something to remember.

They walked in what Sarah felt was an awkward silence, but the king seemed totally unaffected by it. A thought crossed her mind: how was she supposed to address him? So far, she had tried to avoid it at all costs, only calling him "Goblin King" once, and to get his attention. His name was Jareth, she knew that, but as he was a king, it seemed more appropriate to be formal.

"Um-" she started.

"Yes?" he prompted, continuing to walk.

"What should I call you?"

He was silent for a moment, seemingly in deep thought.

"While most would address me formally with some kind of honorific, you may call me Jareth," he said, though his voice was strained.

"Really?" she asked: he sounded unhappy about this.

"It _is _my name," he said dryly.

"Oh."

Her face flamed again. Either he did not notice, or he chose to spare her further humiliation by not pointing it out.

They continued up the corridor, missing out all staircases. Sarah frowned as they stopped outside the door she recognized as the one that concealed her room.

"This place keeps changing," she muttered under her breath.

The king smirked down at her.

"Where would the fun be if everything was the same all the time?" he asked her.

Sarah personally did not find it fun when she thought she was lost but was actually going the right way, but she kept her mouth shut. This was his castle, after all. She supposed he had a right to do whatever he wanted with it.

She quickly opened the door and stepped into the room. Some strange impulse had her turning to perhaps bid the king goodnight, but he was already gone. Nowhere to be seen. She glanced both ways down the corridor, then sighed and closed the door gently.

**Part of me is sad that Sarah never got her hot chocolate :P Please leave me a lovely review in that lil box down there. Also, Revin will NOT be a recurring character. He was necessary to build a little trust between Sarah and Jareth.**


	6. 5: In Which There Is Newfound Trust

**It seems that I sort of lost my train of thought after writing the previous chapter. I kinda forgot where I was heading with this chapter and as a result, I went loopy for the day trying to remember. There...a lil something none of y'all knew about me...I freak out when I forget stuff. Mais, c'est bon!**

Sarah awoke, bathed, and dressed that morning with some kind of newfound trust in the being who'd kidnapped her. Dryly, she thought that him saving her from potential rape was what had done it. She supposed that no matter what the situation was, no matter what he may have done to her before, anyone in her position would be a little warmer towards Jareth too.

She did have to wonder, though, why he cared enough to have stopped the Fae - Revin, she'd heard hm say. Most of the vibes she'd gotten from Jareth so far had only indicated that he disliked her severely and would rather she didn't speak to him at all. And that only raised the question as to why he had kidnapped her in the first place, if he really hated her that much. _To remember, _her mind supplied. But why was it so necessary that she remember at all?

The man - Fae - was an enigma, she decided, lacing up the bodice of the pale green dress she had just stepped into. And definitely not one to be trifled with, she thought, remembering his words to her last night. How was it possible for him to be far stronger than Revin when he was so slim? It definitely frightened her to think that anything existed that was stronger than Revin, and to think that she had been kidnapped by and was living with that very being. Just not as much as it would have had he not saved her.

As she stepped out of the room and traipsed through the corridor and up a set of stairs to get to the kitchen (which annoyed her as she hated the changes this castle kept making to the corridors), she found herself almost tripping over the dress she wore. Getting used to these wardrobe changes was going to take some work, and a lot of concentration. She lifted the skirt an inch or two higher as she climbed the stairs.

She had already eaten, finding breakfast was already in her room when she awoke. She was simply making a trip to the kitchen so say good morning to Catty.

"What happened to your face?" the elderly goblin demanded as soon as Sarah stepped through the door.

Sarah reached up to finger her cheek lightly, and winced. The bruise was large and dark, but definitely looked worse than it felt. It blossomed over her cheekbone, one side of the bridge of her nose and around her eye. There was only slight swelling, but so long as she did not accidentally go to rub her eye, she could not feel a thing.

She shook her head at Catty.

"It's nothing," she reassured her. "It doesn't even hurt."

The goblin shuffled closer, frowning.

"Did his majesty do this to you?"

Sarah was startled. If Catty immediately thought that Jareth was the perpetrator, did that perhaps mean that she was used to seeing girls with bruises? The thought sent a shudder through her.

"No," she affirmed. "Of course not."

The goblin still looked suspicious, but said nothing further on the matter. Feeling suddenly awkward, Sarah turned and exited the kitchen. She did not want to ask about the possibility of the king being cruel to girls, yet she could not help but wonder if he would ever hit her. If it was normal for him.

When she thought about it, so far, he'd barely lain a hand on her. Certainly, he had not yet hurt her, though once or twice she was sure he'd wanted to. _An enigma, _she reminded herself as she aimlessly wandered the castle.

She had absolutely no clue where she was going. Seeing as she didn't know where she wanted to go, she supposed the castle could take her anywhere, possibly even get her more lost than she had been previously. She certainly did not recognise the doors any longer. Vaguely interested, she pushed on a door that read "Hedge Maze II", but it refused to open for her. Put out, she huffed and stormed away from it.

Then something stopped her. It was music, played on what she assumed was a piano. Melodic, romantic. Oddly haunting. And very familiar. It sounded strangely like the melody her music box at home played. Curious as to why she felt that the music was more than that, she followed it to a door labelled "Music Room". _Of course. _She pushed the door open gently, peeking around it.

Jareth's back was to her as he slowly played the song. He seemed not to have noticed her arrival. She watched him move slightly as he played, and hummed words under his breath. Words she felt that she knew, yet could not remember hearing.

"..._makes no sense for you..._"

Sarah gasped, unable to help herself. Jareth turned to face her, an oddly soft expression on his face. He simply stared at her for a few moments as she gaped like a fish. She was on the very tip of something, if only she could _remember_!

"..._as the world...falls...down..._" Sarah breathed out, finishing the chorus.

The king's eyebrows slanted downwards into a frown when tears filled Sarah's eyes, but she still could not remember! Jareth stood slowly, and immediately Sarah's vision went completely black, and she felt her knees hit the ground as she passed out.

* * *

_She is beautiful. The dress is big, and tight around the waist. Sugar-spun, made of silvery-white material with gold beading decorating the bodice. The sleeves puff out, as do the skirts. Heavy diamond earrings hang from her lobes and a diamond necklace, elaborate, is strung around her neck. Her hair is pulled up and curled, a gorgeous silver leaf and stem design wrought through her hair._

_Sarah feels like a princess._

_But a lost one._

_Where is she? The walls are round, there are no corners. A diamond chandalier hangs from the ceiling; cushions litter the floor. People are dancing in the crowded area, wearing Venetian masquerade masks and fancy clothing. The women wear too much make-up, and the men frighten her. Though they dance, draping themselves over each other, they stare at her as she moves through the sheer silver drapes hanging around the room._

_Sarah stares at them all with fascination, but also fear. She feels she is not meant to be here. All these men and women are much older than her. She is far too young. But at the same time...she's always imagined...or at least, she thinks she's always imagined._

_As she glances around, a melodic tune begins to play, as if from nowhere. There are no instruments in this room for it to be coming from. It sends something like pain through her heart. She's supposed to be looking for someone. Maybe whoever it is, is here?_

_Though the music is soothing and beautiful, the actions and gestures the dancers are making are too wild. Too adult. Despite her discomfort, she __**must **__find someone, and she is certain that that person is here. She moves through the crowd. They leer at her and laugh, but part for her to pass through._

_Through the jostling crowd, she catches sight of a man. His blonde hair is wild around him, but his face is masked. He holds up the crude plastic to hide himself from her complete view. He is wearing black, with a shining blue jacket and a high-necked white shirt, accompanied with white gloves. She watches him more closely. The man removes the mask slowly, and a hauntingly seductive voice fills the room, again, coming from nowhere._

_"There's such a sad love..."_

_Sarah stares at him in awe. He is who she is looking for. But who on Earth is he? He grins at her, the corner of his mouth curving slightly. His head tips a tiny bit, aknowledging her. His stare is hot and intense, as if trying to see into her very soul, but he is not leering and laughing like the others. He is merely staring._

_Sarah's lips part a little in surprise at the intensity of his gaze._

_"I'll place the sky within your eyes..."_

_A dancer moves into her line of vision, and suddenly the man is gone, nowhere to be seen. Panicking for whatever reason, she glances frantically around in search of him. She can feel his hot gaze still on her, following her as she searches, but she cannot see him. She moves up the stairs a little, trying to gain some height to see him._

_Something catches her attention. She glances down at a crudely-painted box which pops open. Some kind of bird head rears out of it. She recoils in horror, gasping at the ugliness of whatever it is. It is something from a nightmare she's sure she once had. Two dancers cackle madly at her, but she can barely hear them over the singing._

_"In search of new dreams..."_

_Sarah pushes herself away and shoves through the crowd to escape the madness. People dance madly in front of her, blocking her way, but ultimately do not touch her._

_She glances around and is sure she catches sight of his blue jacket. She pushes on._

_"As the pain sweeps through..."_

_She feels something brush against her hair, but ignores it and continues her search for the man. The gorgeous man with the different-coloured eyes. Her eyes rake the room, but she cannot see him!_

_Suddenly, everyone's attention shoots to her, and she feels the atmosphere change. But she knows that the strange man will not let anything happen to her. Somewhere amongst the throng of lustful people, he is still watching her intently; closely. He will never let anything hurt her. At least not in this place._

_"We're falling down..."_

_The dancers continue, glaring and staring at her as she moves among them. Where has the man gone? One dancer bumps into her hard, and she shoves him away, cringing back from the overbearing aura of his body._

_She stops, looking around the room again. Movement in the corner of her eye catches her attention. Feathered fans move aside to reveal the man. There he is! Still staring at her, neither a smile, nor a frown on his face. He's just...watching her._

_"We're choosing the path between the stars..."_

_She gapes in awe at him. He is truly magnificent. His otherwordly beauty is disarming. She cannot even speak..._

_"I'll leave my love between the stars..."_

_The man moves away from the women draping themselves over him. He walks straight up to her. Without thinking, she places her hand into his offered one, and her other hand on his shoulder. His arm goes around her waist, his hand pressing into her back so that she is drawn closer to him._

_Suddenly, she feels safe in this unfamiliar domain where everyone is laughing at her. They spin gently, walking backwards, dancing in time to the music. She trusts him._

_His lips begin to move, and she realizes that he is the one singing. This is his voice. He is the one singing sweet promises to her. Offering her everything...if only she stays here with him forever..._

_"But I'll be there for you, as the world falls down..."_

_She blinks, lips parting again. Who is he? Why is she feeling...these things for him? Does he know her? Is that why he is promising her things that only lovers would whisper?_

_The other dancers press in, and she glances around at them. The man simply holds her in her dancing position as she stares fearfully at the others. They want to hurt her. They do not like her being here. The man says nothing to reassure her, nothing to make her more frightened. The singing continues. The dancers still leer. The two they are focussed on continue to spin slowly._

_Suddenly, they are in a circle around the pair, swaying gently to the music. She is getting dizzy, panicky. Something is wrong. She is late...for something. Or perhaps running out of time. _

_Gasping, she stares up at the man holding her. His head tilts back, his own stare suddenly unsettling as if he is challenging her. Glimpsing a clock off to her right, she panicks more. This is not the person she is looking for. Whoever she is searching for is not here, and he or she never was. This is a trap. He is keeping her to keep her from making it to wherever she's meant to be going._

_The clock chimes. She barely has an hour left until thirteen o'clock. There is some significance to the number thirteen, but she cannot put her finger on it. Still spinning with the man, he smirks down at her. Abruptly, she shakes her head and shoves herself away from him, shaking off his hands, but not before she catches the pained expression on his face. She wildly claws her way through the crowd, feeling the man's disbelieving stare on her back._

_She has to get out of here. The chiming of the clock is overriding the music. Her heart races, there is blood pounding in her ears. While the man stays where he is, the other dancers follow her, reaching out to grab her; to restrain her and pull her back into the prison she's supposed to be in._

_She skids to a stop in front of a large mirror. This is the way out. Through the looking glass. She snatches up a chair and shatters the thing, and suddenly everything is falling down into blackness._

_She is falling..._

_Falling..._

* * *

Sarah jolted awake so abruptly that she had no time to even breathe properly. In fact, she was quite breathless. Wet tears were slowly falling down her cheek, and she was even hiccupping. Both of her hands were shaking, but there was a strange kind of pressure on one, so she looked down.

A hand encased in black leather was holding hers gently, and she was gripping it back fiercely. Slowly, she began to take in her surroundings. She was on the floor, but her head was cushioned by something hard, and yet soft. Another gloved hand was holding her shoulder, again gently, but also firmly. She followed the arm attached to the hand to a shoulder and to a face.

Her cheeks flamed red as she realized that the king was the one who held her. Her head was in Jareth's lap and it was his hand that she was gripping so tightly. His eyes were full of confused concern, his brows slanted downwards in a frown. His lips seemed oddly tight.

The hand on her shoulder moved to push some strands of hair out of her eyes. She tried to speak, but found that no words would form. And slowly, but surely, her head was beginning to pound painfully, throbbing.

"Sarah..." Jareth whispered, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

"We were...in a ballroom," she managed to whisper, breathless. "I couldn't remember anything. I was trying...to find someone. We danced...and you-you sang to me. That song. But I ran away from you." She sniffed, and his face contorted slightly. "I-I'm so sorry."

She released his hand and pushed herself up onto her knees. He helped her to turn around so that they were kneeling opposite each other on the cold stone floor. She reached out to him. She had obviously hurt him by running away. She did not want to be the cause of pain.

"I'm sorry," she repeated, placing her hands somewhere between his shoulders and pectorals.

An odd kind of sigh escaped him. He took a hold of her wrists, removing them from his person, but held her shoulders to give her the support she needed to remain upright.

"You had other things on your mind at the time," he muttered.

"Why does it hurt so much?" she asked, massaging her temples.

"I don't know," he admitted. "But it's going to hurt like that every time you remember something."

Her head snapped up. "What?"

His fingers moved to her temples, and as soon as the soft leather touched her skin, the pain was completely gone. She met his eyes, trying to thank him silently, and understood what he was saying. Yes, it was going to hurt, but he could make it go away. He could relieve any pain she felt. He _was _magic, after all.

How was it that he had such power over her?

Neither spoke as the king rose to his feet, pulling her up with him. There were a few seconds of somewhat awkward silence before it was broken.

"Your face," Jareth murmured. "Is it sore?"

"Not really," she shrugged. "As long as I don't touch it."

Quietly, they stared at each other for a few more seconds. She could not tell what he was thinking. His face was hard, but his eyes were soft. He looked like he could very well strangle her, but that he was also feeling somewhat warm towards her right now. She was quite sure that if she did know what he was thinking, it would completely blow her mind. And she had had quite enough headaches in the past two days without adding that to it.

More silence passed until eventually the king seemed to shake himself from whatever stupor he'd thought himself into.

"Come with me," he commanded. "I'll see that my healer has a look at that."

**Please review :P I really appreciate feedback and your opinions on things. If you don't like something, I'd still love to hear it, I won't hate on you just because you disagree with me. (THAT totally doesn't look like I'm a review whore...)**


	7. 6: In Which Emotions Take Control

**WOW! After this chapter, this story seemed to gain so much popularity like overnight! Thanks guys :'3 You are all awesome reviewers. Anyhoo, I posted this one so quick because I've got a busy week ahead of me and I don't know when I'll be able to find the time to check my e-mails, let alone write. But you never know, I could be in luck.**

**to (Guest) Crystal: Thanks for your review! I couldn't reply to you personally as you weren't signed in. But thanks so much and I'm glad you like it so much :3**

**to Guest: thanks for your review also :P Don't worry, I will be writing in how many days they have left soon. But just for clarification, at this point, they're on the third day, so she's got about ten days left. Don't worry, it confuses me too! And I'm the one writing it :P**

He was such a fool. An incompetent idiot. Apparently, thirteen hundred plus years of being a monarch and schooling his emotions was for nothing if it was not going to work when he most needed it to. Her hands on his chest had almost undone him. _Almost._ While he was certain that Sarah had sensed some kind of weakness in his façade, perhaps she was not sure what it meant. Even he himself was not entirely sure what it was all about. He was...

Conflicted.

Yes, that was the word. He loathed Sarah Williams with a passion, but the passion with which he loathed her was so intense that...

He couldn't even finish the thought. That would be something like admitting it. He hated her for what she had done to him. He hated her for humiliating him, rejecting him, and beating the unbeatable. But at the same time, he desired her. Jareth did not bother trying to convince himself that he desired her body, because he knew that this was not the case (even though he _definitely _desired her body). He was a fool sometimes, but certainly not a complete simpleton. He wanted more than that from her.

But he was not about to make this a known fact.

He watched with a mixture of sympathy and fiendish delight as the healer's long, deft fingers dabbed some kind of healing ointment all over Sarah's bruise. It was definitely not a pretty thing, but he viewed it as a kind of battle scar. It was dark, and made her eye swell slightly. Dark blotches decorated her cheek, nose, and eye as if a child had taken paints of purple and blue and splattered them on her face.

She hissed through her teeth and jerked away for the first time when the healer reached her nose. A tiny sympathetic goblin with a recently-missing ear patted her gently on the back of her clenched hand. She smiled down at the little thing, but did not speak.

The healer moved to her eye.

"Ow!" Sarah yelped, jerking backwards. "Seriously!"

"You have to sit still if you want me to get all of the bruise!" the healer snapped, his face harsh.

"You just poked me in the eye!" she fired back.

"Because there is some damage there too," the healer returned coolly.

Sarah scowled at the man.

"Well, it wouldn't have killed you to warn me," she muttered under her breath.

While the healer returned her scowl and held her eyelids open, Jareth couldn't help but smirk. _This _was the Sarah he expected. Not necessarily the one he knew, but definitely the one he was prepared for.

She remained still for the healer while the small goblin tugged gently on a lock of her hair. He studied her face. She looked truly annoyed. The first burning emotion she'd shown since she got here. He was not sure whether or not to be pleased.

The healer moved to her shoulder and slid the material of the dress off to the side to examine the angry-looking red bite mark. He said nothing as he picked up a bottle of some green liquid and poured a few drops onto the mark. Sarah hissed as some kind of smoke rose from the wound, but the red mark disappeared in the blink of an eye. With that, the healer turned away, mumbling a dismissal under his breath. Sarah glared at the old man whilst pulling the sleeve of her dress back up to cover her shoulder. She reached up to touch her face lightly. The bruise was still there, but would assuredly fade within the hour.

She stood up from the bed and whispered a goodbye to the goblin who had been fiddling with her hair. Then she turned to face him. She looked uncertain again, as if she did not know what to say or do, or even what she was allowed to say or do. He told himself that this was a good thing.

Eventually, Sarah spoke.

"Thanks for bringing me here," she said quietly. "I didn't really like that bruise." She gave a light and unconvincing laugh meant to seem casual, but actually made her look incredibly nervous. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yes."

"Last night you said that you told Revin to leave," she said. "Why didn't he?"

Jareth frowned a little. That was hardly any of her business, but he supposed that really, it wouldn't hurt to tell her.

"He was interested in a particular Oubliette in the Labyrinth and he wanted it built under his manor. This is not allowed, however. The Labyrinth is completely unique and must not be copied. Apparently, he would not take no for an answer. He was rude and rather ignorant, so I ordered him away, and he failed to do comply. He was most likely skulking around searching for the door to the Oubliette."

"Oh," she muttered. "But why would he be so interested in an Oubliette?"

"A lot of magic goes into building and sustaining the Labyrinth. He was probably more interested in how I'm able to keep up a single room when it needs so much power. Perhaps he thought entering one of those rooms would provide the answer."

"Would it have?" she asked.

"No," he smirked.

She nodded in her fake understanding and he turned away.

"If you'll excuse me," he muttered.

"Would you mind if I walked with you?" she blurted out. "I have to ask you something else."

"Not at all," he said tightly, just wanting to get away from her.

She hurried up to his side and kept his pace as he walked down the corridor.

"I wanted to ask: why am I here, really?"

He sighed.

"To remember."

"I know," she said quickly. "But why is it so important? I mean, why take me away at all? Couldn't you have just left me at home?"

The quiver in her voice told him that she was more than curious. Obviously, she was very homesick. She missed her little brother terribly. She had accepted that she could not escape, that was clear, but she still wanted her brother. She pined for him. Jareth glanced down, and was not at all surprised to see her eyes shining with tears. He looked away to spare her any embarrassment.

He was not going to tell her why it was imperative that she remember. It would put pressure on her, and only stress them both out. Besides, she had remembered considerably more than he'd expected her to in a matter of three days - barely. They still had plenty of time. There was no reason to panic.

As they entered the throne room, he gestured to the sill of the window.

"Sit down, Sarah."

She obeyed and he sat beside her. Holding up his right hand, he conjured a crystal and held it out to her. She regarded it with confusion.

"This is a crystal," he explained. "Nothing more. I will not allow you to go home, but this crystal will allow you to see your brother, your friends, whenever you wish it."

Absently, he thought that she at least deserved to see her brother, even if she could not touch him. It really was the least he could do. She stared at the crystal for a few more seconds, then shakily reached up to take it from his hand. He studied her face intently as she did the same to the crystal in her hands. When a small gasp escaped her, he glanced into the crystal too.

Toby had grown considerably. He must have been eight, perhaps nine years old by now. His hair was a pale and messy blonde, his eyes bright blue as the sky. Most of his baby fat had completely deserted him, leaving a skinny boy with a slight tan due to spending all his afternoons in the sun. He was a handsome young lad, but he looked completely distraught in his mother's arms. His face was red and his eyes were swollen and pink. He was crying, and had been for a while. His mother's face was hard and schooled as she comforted the boy, reassuring him quietly.

Jareth felt an unfamiliar pang of guilt in his chest at the sight. The woman Sarah claimed hated her was holding back tears for her, and the sake of the child. The child himself was a complete mess. And Jareth never had and never would wish that kind of pain on children.

Sarah sniffed and wiped her eyes with her arm.

"So, I'm never going home?" she asked.

He heaved another quiet sigh. He could not keep everything from her.

"When you remember everything, you can go home."

Her head shot up to stare at him in disbelief.

"Really?" she whispered. "But how will I know when I've remembered everything?"

"You just will," he shrugged. He glanced down at the howling boy in the crystal again and swallowed. "Sarah, while you're here, I can cast a spell that will make Toby forget about you. He won't feel any pain. It will be as if you never existed. And when you return, the spell will lift as if nothing ever changed."

He could not quite believe he had just said it. But he _did _mean it. It would make things easier for everyone involved. He couldn't understand why he hadn't thought to do it before now.

"You could really do that?" she asked. He nodded. So did she. "Then please do it. He's in so much pain." She looked into the crystal with longing.

He waved his hand slowly over the crystal, drops of magic seeping into it. The images inside misted for a second, then changeed completely. Toby was outside playing some Aboveground ball game with a group of friends. He was smiling happily without a care. Another alien feeling shot through Jareth, but he was not sure what to call it. He certainly felt a little better not having the child weeping for the loss of his sister.

"It's done."

Without any kind of warning, she threw her arms around his neck, clutching him tightly.

"Thank you so much," she breathed. "I mean, you've been nothing but nice to me since I got here, really."

Suddenly, the King of the Goblins was at a loss. She was...hugging him. Tightly. Sobbing a little, too. What was he to do? A part of him wanted to wrap his arms around her and clutch her just as fiercely, but the part of him that resented her wanted to throw her off so fast that she would contract whiplash.

"If I were you, I would not get used to it," he growled, deciding to keep up the appearence of the intimidating king.

She released him and got to her feet rather quickly. Her cheeks were flaming dark pink.

"I'm sorry," she muttered. "That was...totally inappropriate."

With that, she turned from him and ran out of the room. He watched her go with mixed emotions. Very mixed emotions...

* * *

Sarah wanted to scream. She wanted to smash her head off the stone walls as she rushed away from the Goblin King. This was the second time in two days that she'd gone ahead let her emotions get the better of her. The first time had been in fear, this time had been in gratitude. Both times, she had left feeling completely mortified by her actions. Why on earth did she have to be such an emotional little girl? She was twenty-two years old, for crying out loud! Soon to be twenty-three! Why couldn't she keep her damn feelings in check?

She was sweating, and could feel her face was still bright red. Only the palm of her right hand was cold as she gripped the crystal the king had gifted her. She tried to think about that instead, but it only led back to how she had practically thrown herself into his arms. He clearly hadn't been happy about it either. He hadn't touched her, he'd simply made a harsh comment and left her to walk away in complete mortification.

She continued to take deep breaths as she walked, trying to calm herself. If he'd really been that unhappy about it, he wouldn't have allowed her to touch him at all. Maybe it was not as bad as she thought it was.

She shook her head, opening up the set of double doors that led outside. She made her way towards the closest marble bench she could see and sat down hard on it, which she immediately regretted. Marble was a pretty solid substance, and throwing oneself onto it was definitely not a good idea.

Glancing down into the crystal, she caught sight of Toby still running around in a field with a group of friends, kicking around a soccer ball. Knowing that the Goblin King had such power as to be able to make people forget about her was frightening, but she was more grateful for it than anything. She had been surprised to learn that she would be allowed to go home as soon as she remembered everything. But still, it felt as if the king was not telling her everything.

Well, she wasn't about to march back to him and demand to know what it was. She felt certain he would be incredibly angry if she did, and she doubted he would tell her even after all the trouble. It wasn't worth it, in the long run.

Sarah continued to watch Toby play with his friends in a blissfully carefree manner for a further twenty minutes before she realised that Toby was probably going to do nothing but play soccer for several hours to come. She got to her feet and wandered, staying clear of the fairies. They seemed to have no problem leaving her alone so long as she didn't go near them.

At some point, it began to rain and she was glad of the excuse to go back inside. There was certainly nothing to do out here any longer. She made her way straight to the library, determined not to run into the Goblin King on her travels.

**These chapters tend to get quite boring towards the end, don't they? We shall have to remedy that. In the meantime, review :3  
I need to warn y'all: we've seen nice and guilty and somewhat kind Jareth so far, but in a couple of chapters, the dark Jareth I warned everyone about in the prologue will be making an appearance. But it's a good few chapters away yet. Just sayin' :P**


	8. 7: In Which Sarah Is Left Reeling Again

**I'm going to tell you all something completely random. Before today, I'd never eaten an orange in my whole life. Ever. When I DID eat one, it was so delicious that I had two more. I love oranges. Anyway, I had enough time this morning to upload this. Feel special :P**

Sarah's day went by uneventfully. She remained in the library, reading whatever book she got her hands on, only leaving to get food and use the bathroom once or twice. She managed to avoid any further confrontation with the king, and went swiftly to bed when the clock struck eleven. She peeked down into the crystal once to make sure Toby was sleeping well before nestling down under the dark green blankets on the bed.

She woke late in the morning, closer to the afternoon, and rushed to bathe and dress. In hindsight, she wasn't so sure why she was hurrying. It was not as if her day was going to be any more eventful than the last. In fact, she rather hoped it would be less eventful. She wasn't looking forward to another blinding headache or embarrassing confrontation with the Goblin King. If she was being almost too honest, she was not sure if she wanted to see him today at all.

She still had a question to ask: why was it so necessary that she remember? She had asked him yesterday, but he'd effectively dodged that question by giving her the crystal. She reached down to grab the clear ball and observed Toby eating a sandwich happily. It was a meaningless action, but he was content, and that was what mattered. Still, there was an ache in her chest when she looked at him. It was incredibly kind of the Goblin King to have allowed her this at all, but she still missed her little brother.

It would be pushing her luck to ask the Goblin King if there was anything more he could do, anyway. As he'd said himself, he'd been very generous so far, and she knew he had the power to take everything away.

She found her way down to the kitchen and accepted the bacon and eggs that the goblins had made for her. She watched with interest as they began making cookies: something she herself had taught them to make. Catty approached her, her voice wheezy.

"The cookies have been goin' down well," she commented. "The goblins love 'em and should there be any kids in the future, they'll like 'em too."

The elderly goblin coughed suddenly. Sarah frowned.

"Are you okay?"

"Just not as young as I used to be," Catty smiled, wheezing with every word.

"Seriously, that doesn't sound good," she said, remembering her father's wheezing as his lungs began to fail. "Shouldn't you see a doctor or something?"

"There ain't much doctors and healers can do for old age."

"Don't you get pension or retirement or something?"

Catty laughed.

"What's pension?"

"Well, where I come from, when you reach a certain age, you get money if you can't work any more."

"I'm still working," Catty pointed out. "Besides, goblins don't get paid. At least not the ones that work in the castle."

Sarah felt her eyes widen.

"You work pretty much all day every day and he doesn't even pay you?"

"I think you're misunderstandin' somethin'," Catty smiled. "There's no need fer pay. Most o' the goblins who work in the castle full time stay here full time. Depends on what their job is. We get a warm bed to sleep in and food. Can't ask for nothin' more, really. Our families out in the city get what they need in return for our services here."

Sarah frowned, still unsure.

"His majesty's not a bad person," the goblin continued. "Cruel sometimes, but def'nitely not heartless. A lot o' the smaller and more friendly goblins you meet here are very young, and homeless. His majesty provides them with a place to stay by invitin' them to work here. Have you been to the healin' ward yet?"

She was caught off guard by the question. She didn't have time to answer, though.

"You must have been. Your bruise is gone. Did you see the goblins?"

"No. I was in a separate room."

"Sometimes, goblins are born with disabilities that mean they can't work, or even live properly in the city. His majesty takes 'em in and sees to it that they get full time care if it's needed. His majesty even tries to use his own magic to fix 'em. Usually doesn't work though."

This knowledge made Sarah's chest feel strangely heavy. Or perhaps it was light. She could not tell. She had never imagined the Goblin King to be one who would actually care about those he ruled over. She viewed him more as the tyrannical leader who wanted things done his way or no way.

"Why?" she asked. "Why does he bother to try if it never works?"

"It's not that it never works, jus' most of the time it doesn't. And it's his duty as a king to care for his subjects. In fact, I think one was brought in last night. You should go watch, see what I'm talkin' about."

This sparked her interest. Watching the Goblin King try to fix a disability in a young goblin could very well make her more comfortable around him. Besides, one has to see something before it is to be believed.

"Yeah, I think I will," she muttered, getting to her feet. "Thanks for breakfast. Um, do you think you could show me where to go? This place is like a maze to me."

Catty nodded and began to walk away. Sarah quickly followed her. They moved up two sets of stairs, down a corridor, then around a corner. Sarah didn't bother trying to remember the route, knowing that the castle would probably only change if she ever tried to make her way here again.

The goblin pointed to a door. Sarah moved past Catty, but the elderly goblin did not leave. Apparently, she was curious too. She moved through the door and followed the sound of voices to another room. The door was half-open. Catty gestured for her to knock.

She did so, and the voices ceased.

"Yes?" Jareth's voice came.

"Can I...come in?" she asked hesitantly.

Jareth hummed a response, so she pushed the door open gently, peeking around it. This room was tiny, and square. There was a bed pushed up against the wall by a small window. Three goblins were standing in a huddle around the bed. One had very obvious grey hair which reached its shoulders. Sarah had to assume it was female. There was a much smaller one sitting at the foot of the bed, and it seemed female too. The pink toy it played with was what gave it away. The third was the largest, though it only came up to Sarah's waist.

The king was seated on a wooden stool at the head of the bed, and his healer was standing close behind him, observing with interest. Sarah moved forwards to stand behind the two goblins and Catty moved in beside her. It was rather cramped.

The goblin on the bed was smaller than Catty, but larger than the tiny one at the foot of the bed. There appeared to be nothing wrong with the it, other than a strip of material resting over its eyes.

"What's wrong with him?" she whispered to Catty.

"Born blind," she breathed back. "No eyes."

"No eyes?" Sarah repeated, shocked.

"S'right."

Sarah glanced back down at Jareth. He was studying the goblin in the bed intently, frowning slightly.

"I'm not sure how much I will be able to do," he told the two larger goblins. "Please try not to get your hopes up."

"You try to fix my brother?" the tiny child-goblin asked the king.

Jareth smiled in an oddly tender way down at the little girl.

"I'll try my best. But remember: we cannot always get what we want in life." The tiny thing nodded, and looked back at the goblin who was her older brother. Jareth glanced around at them all, his eyes coming to rest on Sarah's. "I need absolute silence."

She found herself nodding along with the goblins. The king turned back to the one in the bed. He removed both of his gloves and placed them on the table at the side of the bed.

"Can you feel anything?" he asked the goblin.

"No, majesty."

"You may still feel some discomfort," he warned. "Just try to relax."

The goblin nodded. Jareth removed the strip of material from his eyes, which were closed. Sarah would never have thought that he did not have any. Jareth's hand rested over the goblin's closed lids. His face contorted into a frown of concentration, and an odd white light began to glow from his palm. The two goblins in front of her gripped each other's hands, and the child at the foot of the bed seemed incredibly on edge.

The Goblin King held his position for almost a full minute before removing his hand. Sarah saw no difference in anything. The tiny goblin looked crestfallen.

"Thank ye fer tryin', majesty," the large male goblin said.

The little girl sniffled. Jareth suddenly held out his hand.

"No," he muttered. "I'll try again."

And he did. Sarah was slightly amazed by this. It surprised her that he cared enough about his subjects to try to do this for them. When he pulled his hand away, and the glow dimmed, Sarah still didn't see anything new.

"One more time," Jareth insisted.

Sarah frowned. It seemed oddly unlike the Goblin King to insist. She remained quiet, though, as that white glow filled the room a third time. Even as it started to dim once again, Jareth's hand shook with what Sarah could only assume was the strain of keeping the magic flowing.

This time, when he pulled back, Sarah _did _notice something. The shape of the goblin's eyelids were different, and said goblin was smiling. Jareth reached up to draw the curtain, plunging the room into semi-darkness.

"You'll want to be careful with bright lights," the king instructed. "The healer will give you any more information, should you need it."

He rose to his feet.

"Oh, thank ye, majesty!" the female goblin said.

Jareth reached down and allowed the pair of goblins to grasp his hands in their thanks. The goblin was opening his eyes, and the tiny one was quivering with excitement.

"Can ye sees me, Bing?" she asked. "Can ye's?"

"I _can _sees ye, Daisy. Yous is pretty."

Sarah felt the prick of tears in her eyes and an odd warmth in her chest. This was...beautiful. Yes, that was the word. And heartwarming. The tiny goblin beamed up at her king.

"Thanks, king!" she smiled shyly.

A small smile made its way onto Jareth's lips.

"It was my pleasure, little one."

He straightened up more fully and turned to face Sarah, glancing down at Catty too.

"Come, give them some privacy."

He exited first, and Catty and Sarah followed. Sarah waited for the healer to leave before she closed the door. She was a little surprised when the old man placed his hand on Jareth's arm and guided him to another wooden stool.

"You always did have an odd soft spot for the little 'uns," Catty smirked.

"Back to the kitchens," Jareth ordered, but Sarah caught the smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

Catty gave a small bow and left them. The healer was fiddling with various bottles at a table close to them, but said not a word.

"I didn't know you could do that," Sarah muttered, suddenly shy.

"Most of the time, I can't," he admitted. "It is not easy."

"How come?" she asked. "You can do all this other stuff with no problem."

"There are different kinds of magic in this world," he explained. "Healing magic takes a lot of skill and dexterity to be used properly, and a lot of strength. I'll admit it's not my forte. It's rather taxing on me."

"Then why do you do it?" she wondered aloud.

"As the king of this land, I am the only one with the power and authority to bestow such a gift on my subjects," he said. "It's my duty to make sure they're healthy."

She frowned.

"But that doesn't explain-"

"It was the child," he interrupted, not looking at her. "If it were you, would you have just given up because you could not do it the first time, especially when a child was so eagerly awaiting a good result?"

The look in his eyes was strangely knowing, as if she was missing out on some private joke.

"No," she said instantly. "Of course not."

"There you have your answer, then."

She still had argument left in her, but she decided against answering him back. He did look tired. The healer handed him a bottle of some deep red liqiud. Sarah strongly suspected that it was wine, perhaps spiked with something else. He swallowed it down rather quickly and handed the bottle back to the healer, who whispered something then disappeared through another door.

"...Jareth?" she said, testing his name. It felt alien and odd on her tongue. Apparently, he was just as weirded out as she was, because his whole body jerked a little. "Are you...okay?"

"I will be in a moment," he replied evenly.

He was telling the truth. He sat completely still for a few more moments before colour seemed to rush back into his face. He flexed his fingers evenly, conjuring another of those peculiar crystal balls. He let it roll over his fingers and hands in some kind of dance. It completely mesmerised her.

The king noticed her fascination and smirked.

"What _is _that, excatly?" she asked.

"It's a crystal. Nothing more."

In her head, Sarah felt an odd twinge, even though she'd heard him say it just yesterday. It caused her to actually take a step back from the king as she focussed on the pain building in her head. She reached up to place a hand over her eyes as the light was suddenly painful.

"But it'll show me my dreams, right?" she hissed out, remembering those words coming from his lips so clearly that he might have been repeating them to her now.

She sensed the Goblin King nod slightly, and felt his newly gloved hand encase her wrist. He pulled her arm down and touched her temples lightly. Then the pain was gone again. She found it somewhat unfair that she needed him for the pain to end. Not that she was not grateful that he was stopping it for her. She would rather share a tent with Karen for a week than have to deal with that pain for any longer than a few seconds.

"Thanks," she muttered.

She pulled her wrist out of his grip.

"Going somewhere?" he asked.

"The library."

It was the only answer she gave, and he let her go without another word. For that, she was also grateful. Sometimes the Goblin King was just a little too much to handle.

**And don't we all know it. Anyhoo, review while you're here :3 Takes but a few seconds (or longer if you're giving a long review :3) So, here we saw a much kinder and gentler side to Jareth but BE WARNED. Come the next chapter, that's going to change rather dramatically. I hope you're prepared.**


	9. 8: In Which Trust Is Shattered

**Je suis très fatigué. Like, really. For a second there, I didn't even realise I was typing in French! What I said was I'm really tired. That's what I get for staying up until stupid o'clock in the morning to watch movies. It WAS fun though :D Vraiment, c'était amusant.**

**Warning y'all now: this story is rated M. Just bear that in mind.**

Jareth was grateful to the unseen force that kept Sarah away from him for the remainder of the day and night. Almost immediately after she'd left him to go in search of the library, the healer had announced that the goblin he'd just fixed was fit to go home. The parents had left with their two children quickly afterwards, practically sobbing their thanks to him.

He'd sent them home as soon as he possibly could, then spent his day musing in his throne. Contrary to popular belief, the every day life of the Goblin King was not all fun and games, and was certainly not very packed. Sometimes he wished it was. Hundreds of years ago, he would be caring for a wished-away child almost every day. Sometimes twice. Now, he was lucky if anyone Aboveground even spoke his name any longer. He hated the twentieth century.

He was more than happy when he noticed it was almost thirteen o'clock, and the sky was black outside. That meant he could retire to his bedroom and sleep. It was certainly less boring than sitting in a chair listening to goblins whine about chickens all day.

He stood himself up and left the room, glad of the cape around his shoulders. The corridors did tend to get incredibly cold at night. So he was obviously surprised when he caught sight of Sarah walking down the stairs in only a cotton camisole nightgown that was far too short. It clung to her her every contour, and he was almost tempted to avert his eyes for both their sakes. But she did not stop when she saw him. She continued to move, eyes blank, until she had walked past him completely.

He shrugged. What did he care, really? But something did make him stop. Her eyes were _too _blank. She was not just tired. He glanced back at her retreating form. Her pale legs seemed too relaxed, as if she was only just dragging her feet along, albeit gracefully. Huffing to himself, he hurried up to her and waved a hand in front of her face. She was not deterred at all, and continued walking.

"Sarah," he called, just loudly enough for his voice to echo in the silent corridor.

She did not respond. She kept on walking as if he hadn't spoken at all. He was tempted to leave her be so that he could go to bed, but Danu only knew what kind of trouble she could get herself into when she was sleep-walking.

Genuinely curious as to where she was going, he followed her carefully. She led him all the way back to the throne room, then took a left through the arch and up a set of stairs. She was going to the Escher Room? As a fan of the illusions of the ancient Aboveground artist, Jareth had had several rooms created to confuse runners, but that had nothing to do with why Sarah was going there.

He paused to watch her, but suddenly, a panic like he'd never quite felt before engulfed him completely. It made his heart race, his blood pound, and an odd rushing noise to start up in his ear.

Sarah was scarily close to the edge when she abruptly leapt off it. The panic he felt made no sense, but he did not care. Without giving it a second thought, his arm shot out towards her. He was nowhere near close enough to catch her, but a tendril of magic, completely invisible, snaked out of his hand. It constricted around her waist tightly. He yanked his arm backwards, and Sarah suddenly flew back up.

Once her feet had touched the stone again, he released the magic that held her. However, the momentum with which he'd pulled her back up made her stumble backwards until her back hit his chest. He would never know what strange impulse made him grab her and whirl her around so that she was pressed hard against the stone wall with him right behind her, trapping her there.

"Wh...I..."

She was waking up. Her awareness was coming back. She gasped when she felt his body pressing against hers, and she began to try to wriggle her way free, with no success. Darkly, he thought that she wouldn't be writhing the way she was if she knew just what she was rubbing up against. He tried to contain himself, but he was becoming more excited by the second.

"What are you doing?" she strained, voice cracking with the effort of freeing herself. But he was not about to let her go, lest she should try to leap again.

"I could ask you the same thing!" he hissed angrily, though he knew he had no right to feel that way. She had been asleep, after all. It was hardly her own fault.

"What are you talking about?" she grunted. "Let me go!"

"So that you can throw yourself off the ledge again?"

"I-!" She froze suddenly. "What?"

"You were sleep-walking," he explained, trying to keep his voice even so as not to give away the fact that he was angry, and even a little aroused.

"I...I was?" she mumbled. "I was dreaming...I had to get Toby. He was...on the ceiling. My head hurts."

He removed one hand from the wall to press a finger to her head. A quick burst of magic was all it took for the pain to go. She began her struggle with him again.

"Get off me," she insisted, wriggling and pushing against the wall, but to no avail. Obviously.

He smirked dangerously, but she could not see it. Her writhing was doing amazing things to him, and he was the king after all. She was in his kingdom, and under his rule. Really, he should be able to do whatever he wanted to her. And he could. There was no risk that his emotions would become clear as she still believed him to be a harsh monarch.

"I think not, Sarah," he said, voice low and dark. "After what just happened, I think you deserve to be punished."

"That wasn't my fault!" she fired back, still struggling. "I was asleep."

"While that may be true, that was not what I was referring to," he smirked. "You ordered me to release you twice. _Ordered _me. And you spoke in an ill-mannered tone once again. This was your third and final strike, Sarah."

"What are you going to do?" she asked, fear in her voice.

Another grin tugged at his lips, even a small but dark chuckle escaped him. He fought to remember when it was he last had this much fun.

"Well, that depends entirely on how much longer you're going to continue that delightful wiggling of yours," he smirked dangerously.

As she froze, they could both feel his hardness. It was almost unbearable, how firmly he was pressing himself against her. She twitched with restraint, wanting desperately to move, but was too afraid to make him any more excited than he already was. Either way, he could work with what he was given.

He moved her hair to the side, sweeping it off her neck. Her heart was pounding so fast, that he could actually see the blood flowing through the main artery in her neck, pulsing under her skin. Smirking a self-satisfied smirk, he bent his head down a little, and licked from her bare shoulder all the way up to her jaw. Even her skin was wonderful in its own taste and texture. She quivered. In what, he did not care by this point. He let his tongue flick over her earlobe once, and she jerked suddenly. This time, he was certain it was in some kind of pleasure. It definitely wasn't pain, judging by the odd gasp she emitted.

He brought his lips back to her neck again, nipping her skin with his teeth lightly. At this point, however, Sarah seemed to find her voice.

"No, don't," she said, trying to twist away from him.

He raised his lips back up to her ear, pressing them lightly against it.

"Sshh," he breathed. "And I'll see to it that you enjoy this as much as I do."

As he said it, he was barely aware that he was grinding himself hard against her. But she was still protesting.

"Stop it!" she hissed. "I don't want-"

Jareth let his hand find her hair and yank her head back so that she was cut off in her speech out of surprise.

"There you go again," he muttered against the skin of her cheek. "Speaking out of turn to me. Will you ever learn?"

"O-Okay," she said quickly. "I'm sorry. Now, will you please let me go? You're - ah! - hurting me."

He released her hair, but did not move away from her. He was determined to keep her firmly pinned against the wall. Her height made her seem as if she was slightly beneath him, but either way, he knew he was in complete control. She had not a chance of competing with his strength.

He quickly realised that in this position, he could hardly touch her at all as her front was pushed up against a stone wall. Tearing his gloves off with his teeth and casting them to the floor, he snaked his arm around Sarah's waist and pulled her away from the wall. His free hand slid up her body from her hip to her chest before dipping down beneath the material of her camisole.

Another of those delightful gasps came from Sarah's lips when Jareth trailed his fingers gently over her nipple, hardened with the cold. He felt a surge of something like pride when he noticed that she was no longer fighting against him. He pinched the hardened nub firmly, and Sarah jerked backwards, enabling him to wrap his arm around her more securely.

He licked, kissed, and bit at her neck, moving his hand again from under her camisole. He trailed his fingers down her side to her leg, and back up, pulling the material of the nightgown with him.

Apparently, Sarah had been in some kind of stupor before, because she was struggling again. At some point, he actually felt her elbow jab into his ribs, though it was less than painful.

"No, Jareth!" she yelped. "Please, stop!"

With a sigh of disappointment, he released her. It would be no fun if she was not at least partially willing. And, in the back of his mind, he knew if he went any further with it, it would only hurt her and she would never forgive him for it.

She leapt away from him, her back pressing against the wall next to the arch. Her legs trembled, her lower lip quivered, and hot tears fell slowly from her eyes. Some part of him felt a stab of guilt at the sight of Sarah so fearful of him. He had not meant to take it so far as to have her in tears. But at the same time, he could not help but feel oddly victorious. What had he been thinking?

_You weren't,_ his mind supplied.

He brushed the thought away for now. Sarah was on the move. Going as fast as she could on her shaking legs, she was exiting the room. He followed her on impulse, taking long strides to keep up with her.

"Where are you going?" he demanded.

She did not answer him, but continued through the throne room and out into the corridor. She pushed open one of the massive double doors, and a blast of freezing air hit them both. He immediately reached out to her, grabbing her arm and yanking her back inside.

"Are you completely mad?" he demanded. "You'll freeze to death if you go out now!"

"I don't care!" she spat back. "As long as I'm away from you."

"Sarah-" he warned.

"You called Revin a piece of filth," Sarah snarled. "You're just as bad as he is."

This new - and yet old - Sarah with backbone startled him. He dropped her arm and let her walk out into the freezing, windy night. He stared after her in a confusing mixture of contempt, unsated lust, and surprise.

"On your own head be it," he hissed after her.

As he turned, the door slammed and he stormed back to the throne room, throwing himself into it angrily. He ran his hand through his hair and growled.

He was startled when a blue-ish glow appeared in the middle of the room, but settled again when the glow took the form of Danu, with her fiery hair and sky blue eyes. He steeled himself for the rolicking he knew he was about to receive.

"What have you done, Jareth?" she asked, but her voice was calm.

"I have no idea," he admitted.

"Clearly," the Goddess replied. "You are a fool, child. I warned you not to give her reasons to distrust you."

"I am perfectly aware of that."

"Jareth, my child, do you even realise what you have done? I told you that this was going to be difficult for her."

"I know," he said flippantly.

"That is just the problem, Jareth. You do not know at all. You must understand. Sarah has been kidnapped, not just from her home, but from her own world. She has been trying to trust you. She possibly even _wants _to trust you. The goblins have been helping her with that. You saved her from a monster, Jareth, and she put her faith in you. She trusted you not to do what he did, and you did it regardless. She is terrified. Realise this: she is a young woman with no friends or comfort in this world. You were perhaps the one being she could talk with in this realm, and you have just shattered that."

He kneaded his forehead with his knuckles as he listened to the Goddess scolding him.

"I know."

"Do you?" the Goddess shot back, clearly angered now. "Then bring her back and rectify this immediately. If the Goblin Kingdom falls, it will be entirely your fault."

The Goddess disappeared. She was right, of course. She was always right. She was never usually so harsh about it, though. This could only mean that he had, indeed, just royally messed up. He huffed. He was going to have to go out into the Labyrinth - which was undoubtedly where Sarah was - and bring her back. He could not use force this time, though. The situation was too delicate.

He heaved himself to his feet and conjured a crystal. He searched its depths until he caught sight of Sarah. Sighing, he transported himself to her location.

**Now, I KNOW a lot of y'all have been enjoying kind-hearted Jareth, but this IS a story in which he has dark tendencies (like I said in the prologue). I do apologize if none of you liked this random turn of events, but I urge you to go with it :) It will get better.  
In other news, I'm flying out to France tomorrow to reconcile with some family. I should be gone about a week, so if there are no updates, that's why. I'll leave you all hanging in the meantime :3**


	10. 9: In Which Jareth Feels Immense Guilt

**I'm SO sorry for the wait! I was in France!**

Sarah trudged through the Goblin City. The wind was so bitter and freezing, it actually hurt her skin. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to warm up; to retain the little body heat she had left.

She simply could not believe that the Goblin King had done what he'd done. She knew he did not like her all that much, but she had never expected him to... She shook her head, refusing to think about it. At some point, it had felt wonderful, but in the end, she knew she had not wanted it. She'd protested, and he'd only continued. She did not know what had stopped him at the last minute, but she was thankful. She did not think she would have been able to handle it if he'd gone any further.

The strange thing - in the completely frightening and unexplainable sense - was that she _did _sort of...desire him. She cringed at her inner use of that word. He was far from unattractive, and there was something that seemed to draw her to him. She wanted _something _with him, but she could not put her finger on what it was. And the fact that he had kidnapped her did not make it any easier for her to figure it out. That thought repulsed her completely.

Clambering over the piles of junk in the junkyard hurt her feet, but she did not care. As with the first day she'd come here, she wanted to be away from the Goblin King, despite the pull she felt. She forced herself into the forest, and quickly regretted it. It was pitch black in here, and she could not even find the way out. Nevertheless, she wandered through the dark with her hands out in front of her face.

Most of the time, she found herself walking into things. She could not see anything. She could only hear and feel. Although the latter was becoming a problem. The cold was making her numb.

Suddenly, the ground seemed to disappear from under her feet. She yelped, her heart skipping a beat, and her feet hit the ground again. This one was more solid though, but just as uneven. She stood and reached up. If she stood on her tiptoes, her fingers scraped rough stone. Moving forwards, her fingers hit a wall. What was going on?

She jumped in fright when a candle suddenly lit itself with no source. She hurried towards the flickering flame and held her hands over it though, grateful for the sliver of light and flicker of heat. It did not provide much warmth, in reality. She glanced around. The room was more like a deep hole, and the gap in the ground she must have fallen through was closed over. There was no way out.

A pang of homesickness overtook her. She wished she'd brought the crystal ball with her so that she could look at Toby, even though he was probably sleeping right now. Still, it would be nice to be able to look at something other than the bare walls or dripping wax; something comforting in all the confusing emotions and events.

She eventually lay down next to the candle on her side, resting her head on her arm. She was tired, and wanted to sleep. However, it seemed the Goblin King had other ideas. She yelped and leapt up and away from him when he appeared from nowhere in a shower of glitter close to her. He did not look particularly happy, but she had the odd feeling that his displeasure was not directed at her.

"You'll die in here, you know," he informed her bluntly. "This is an Oubliette. People are forgotten when they fall into these. Come, I'll get you out."

"Don't touch me!" she warned him, taking another step away from him. Not that her warnings would do any good. In fact, with something of a pang of fear, she realised she was speaking out of turn again.

"Sarah-" he began, taking a step closer.

"I'm serious!" she snarled, jumping away again. "Stay away! Please," she added.

He stopped. And sighed. His eyes were somewhat pained.

"You cannot stay out here," he said, voice very obviously gentle as if he was deliberately trying not to scare her. "It's freezing, and it's very dangerous out here at night. Just because you can't get out, that doesn't mean others cannot get in. Let me take you back to the castle."

"No," she said firmly, shaking her head. She did not want to be lulled into a false sense of security. "I'm not going anywhere with you." Feeling a surge of confidence, she decided to be truthful. "You keep taking me away from places I want to be."

"That fact hardly applies to this situation," he retorted. "Do you honestly want to stay here?"

She froze, holding her breath. His tone called for a spoken answer, even though they both knew what she would say.

"No," she replied, voice low.

He was still for a moment. The only sound to be heard was Sarah's own laboured breathing. The king seemed to be thinking deeply about something.

"Will you let me take you back if I swear to you that I won't ever harm you like I did again?"

She considered it. The castle was warm, and she could sleep there. Here was freezing and harsh. But she did not trust the Goblin King. Not for a second after what he'd done. She was not sure she wanted to be within his reach, not that it seemed to make a difference. He could find her anywhere and she knew it.

"I don't believe you," she said, shivering from the cold and trembling at the presence of the king. "I can't trust you."

He tilted his head to the side a little, as if considering her retort.

"You're right not to," he nodded thoughtfully. "But when I make a promise, I intend to keep it, Sarah. I will never do that to you again. Are you cold?" he asked when she brought her hands up to rub her own arms.

"No, I'm just toasty," she retorted, sarcastic.

She was momentarily worried about what Jareth's reaction to this would be, but he merely smiled an obviously amused smirk. It was the same one that told her she was missing out on a private joke. She hadn't the backbone to demand what was so funny. Not right now and not with him.

He untied the front of the dark cape he was wearing and approached her. She found herself backing away from him until she came up against a wall. He did not trap her again, though. He simply held out the cloak with both of his hands - which she noted were still not gloved. She couldn't explain the emotion she felt when she realised he hadn't even bothered to put them back on. It seemed to imply that he'd come straight after her.

"Put it on," he pressed. "It will keep you warm."

The thought of warmth was almost too much for her. She reached out for the cape, and he released it as soon as she had a grip on it. She quickly slung it around her shoulders, wrapping it over her front. He was right, it _was _warm. With his body heat. She was hardly about to complain though.

She was facing away from him, and she jumped when his fingers touched her chin. He pulled her head around so that she was looking at him. His eyes were sincere, his face solemn. He was still being deliberately delicate about everything. To her horror, she felt herself start to relax, but she couldn't help herself.

"I'm going to take you back to the castle, alright?" he said slowly and gently. "But I'm going to have to carry you. Your legs would give out as soon as we get back from the transportation spell, and your feet are bleeding."

She was startled. She glanced back, lifting one of her legs so that she could see the soles of her feet. He was right again. There were small but deep cuts in her skin, probably obtained from traipsing through the junkyard.

"Is that alright?" Jareth asked, tentative.

She nodded tightly, wondering why he was tentative. He was a king, he could do anything he wanted. She did not argue with him though, or ask about it. She wanted to go to sleep now, and she couldn't ask for him to be any more delicate about the situation than he was being.

"Put your arms around me," he instructed, his voice purposefully soft. She hesitated, and he noticed. "What must I do to make you see that I won't hurt you, Sarah?"

She paused for a second. Something inside her wanted to trust him, but she was not sure she could. Even so, she wanted a warm bed. She wanted to sleep now. Sniffing in the cold, she shook her head.

"Nothing," she mumbled. "I'll come back with you."

She took a tentative step towards him. She wished it could be less awkward as she wrapped her shaking arms around his neck. His arm swept under her legs. She was lifted up into the air, and a discomfort she had not noticed vanished. It had been in her legs and feet.

Jareth's body was warm. Unconsciously, she moved herself so that she was touching as much of him as possible, soaking up his heat. In hindsight, it probably wasn't the best thing to have done considering his tendencies, but he said nothing about it, neither to encourage nor to discourage.

"Close your eyes," he said. "It will help with the disorientation."

She did as he suggested, and felt herself spin into nothingness. She gripped Jareth tighter, afraid of falling, or perhaps being sick. Once it stopped, though, she opened her eyes. They were in the bedroom she had been sleeping in for the past few days.

The Goblin King took a few steps towards the bed and lowered her onto it so that she was sitting on the edge. He knelt down in front of her.

"What are you doing?" she immediately asked, worried and tensing her muscles.

"Your feet need healing."

He lifted her ankle slowly so that he could press his palm over the sole of her foot. She frowned.

"I thought healing magic made you weaker."

"It does."

She let herself fall quiet as he worked. It was an incredibly odd sensation, to have the cuts healed as quickly as she'd gotten them. A strange tingling sensation, almost like pins and needles, just not as sore started up on the sole of her foot. It was gone within seconds, and the king moved to her other foot.

Using his magic to heal made him weaker, she knew this. So why was he wasting his energies on fixing a few cuts on her feet? Surely they would heal on their own in a couple of days? Sarah felt a little light-headed when she realised he was trying to apologize for what he'd done to her - what he'd almost done. Really, she couldn't expect a better one. She would be hard-pressed to think that any king would ever utter the words 'I'm sorry'. Especially not the Goblin King. Nevertheless, he _was _trying to atone for it. She did not know what to say, or even think.

Once he had finished with her other foot, he rose slowly to his feet. She noted that his skin had paled just a fraction.

"Better?"

She nodded, uncertain. It was not to be helped when she flinched as soon as Jareth moved. He paused, looking as if he wanted to say something, but ultimately decided there was no point. He turned away from her and began walking towards the door.

"Lest you should sleep-walk again, I'm going to lock the door," he said. "It will unlock itself when you awaken."

"Okay," she whispered.

"Goodnight, Sarah," he muttered.

Sarah did not answer him. Once he was out of the room and the door had closed behind him, she lay down on her side on the bed, curling herself into a ball. The thought of his hands all over her was...odd. It disgusted her and made her cringe. It made her feel violated. But at the same time, it made her feel wonderful! In a way she'd never felt before. She wondered if that was normal, or even healthy.

She would never admit it out loud, but some tiny part of her had almost wanted the Goblin King to continue. But that would have been wrong. The feelings that had erupted in her made no sense. She barely even knew him! Unless, somehow, her missing memories were connected to what she truly felt about him. That made no sense either. Any memories concerning him had been far too cryptic to have understood properly. Including the memory of her time in that ballroom...that prison...that _fantasy..._

She forced herself to relax, and let sleep overtake her, though her dreams would surely be less than easy.

* * *

That flinch...

That flinch!

These feelings of guilt and whatever else were foreign to Jareth. Many a time, people - mortal or Fae, male or female - had flinched under his wrath, his gaze. Had feared him and what he might do in his anger or otherwise. He couldn't even begin to describe why this occasion was odd; different.

He was cruel by nature. The Fae were. Jareth himself was a dominant man. He constantly found himself wanting power over everything, and especially if that meant having it whimper at his feet. But with Sarah... Perhaps he still had no power over her. Yes, that had to be it. That was why he'd stopped. Because he had no power over her. That was why he could not bring himself to take her to her knees, begging like they all did. Then again, that certainly did not explain why he felt so..._bad _having Sarah flinch when all he'd done was shift a little with no intentions of laying his hands on her, sexually or otherwise.

There was another odd thing too. He wanted to lay his hands on her, but by no means to hurt her. _"You're - ah! - hurting me!" _Those had never been his intentions. Not once. He wanted to dominate _her, _but he had no desire to harm her to achieve that goal. Which was why he'd released her hair when she'd claimed he was doing just that.

_Argh._

Jareth hated these emotions. Perhaps _this _was why he hated Sarah Williams. She invoked feelings in him that he was scarcely used to. He simply had no idea how to deal with them. He'd tried to atone for what he'd done, but he had the feeling that Sarah was not going to be so forgiving so soon. And it was perfectly within her rights to hate him for his actions.

He groaned. He hated this. He felt like a confused adolescent once again, as he had been over a millenium ago. Perhaps he should have just gotten his way with Sarah while he'd been in the moment. It might have saved him all this trouble.

_Do not be ridiculous, _his mind scolded.

His conscience was right, too. He imagined he would feel a hundred times worse now if he'd simply taken her when they were in the Escher Room. Also, Sarah would have hated him...forever. For some unexplainable reason, he did not want Sarah to hate him.

_Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave._

Jareth huffed. Those words held more truth now than they had when he'd first said them to her. While he'd still meant them then, they held much more significance now. Especially to him.

He sighed, entering his own chambers and letting the door click shut behind him. He quickly rid himself of his clothes and pulled on a loose pair of silken pyjama trousers. He had the odd feeling that he was not going to rest well tonight. And he could not help but think it was exactly what he deserved.

**Aww...Jareth's feeling sorry for himself, and rather bad about what he's done. Ach well, it's Jareth. I'm sure he'll get over it. As for Sarah? You'll just have to wait and see. NAO REVIEW before the Goblin King sends goblins to knot your hair or something...**


	11. 10: In Which Everything Is Just Too Much

**(A/N): OMG! This story is gaining popularity! I have 34 people following it and SEVERAL regular reviewers :D Thanks guys! I must warn y'all now, I started writing the next chapter and I've hit a bit of block with it. I'm hoping to smash the wall to smithereens some time soon, but if the next chapter takes a while, that's why. In other news, I've already started writing the final chapter of this story :D It's gonna be great (I hope).**

Sarah was awake to witness the sun rising over the Labyrinth, but she drifted out of consciousness quickly after. This continued for what must have been several hours - finding herself awake before blinking and discovering she'd been asleep for almost twenty minutes - before she was alert enough to get out of bed. When she did so, she entered the bathroom to use the facilities and brush her teeth. After a quick bath, she dressed then made her way onto the balcony. She was sure she didn't want to leave her room today. Things felt...too weird.

She sat on the thick stone railing and watched the Labyrinth. She felt that even if she stared at it all day, she would contantly find new things within it. Because of both its size and the fact that it continued to move and change with every passing minute. It was like a boring television channel. She _did _have one other channel though.

She pulled the crystal ball out from a pocket in the dress she was wearing and looked into it. Toby was at school sitting in a Maths lesson. He looked beyond bored. Sarah couldn't help but smile. After a few minutes of watching her brother, she became uncomfortable and moved to sit on the ground instead, resting her arms on the railing so that she was looking up into the crystal.

At some point, a goblin brought her food. She thanked him politely but only managed to eat a little of it. She tipped the rest of it over the edge of the balcony and returned to watching her brother.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed a barn owl land with perfect precision on the railing. It settled happily there and simply watched her. She managed to ignore it for some time before she turned her glare on it. It was more interesting than Toby at this precise moment.

"Can I help you with something?" she demanded of it. She was not in the mood for games today.

When it blinked its large eyes, something stirred inside her. Like nostalgia, only she couldn't quite remember where she'd seen it before. Her slight anger dissipated as she breathed out slowly. Anger was too much of an energetic emotion. To be angry required some kind of mental stamina that she just did not have today.

"Of course I can't," she muttered under her breath. "You're an owl. You're only thinking of mice or something, right? Why don't you try your luck down there?" Sarah gestured to the gardens of the castle. "Watch out, though. I hear the fairies bite."

The owl ruffled its feathers. A clear 'no'. How oddly intelligent. She got to her feet and approached it.

"You know, I bet if I asked a couple of the goblins downstairs to fry you and let me eat you, they'd be more than happy to do it," she mused aloud, internally mocking herself. She was talking to an owl. "Wouldn't that be weird?"

The owl shook itself, and she caught the amusement in its eyes. Was that thing...laughing at her? Smiling a little herself, she sank to the ground again, leaning her arms over the railing, watching Toby once more. The owl shuffled closer, glancing down into the crystal with her, almost as if it was asking her about what she could see within.

"That's my brother," she muttered, still not entirely sure why she was making conversation with a bird. "He's the one who just punched the bigger kid." Sarah laughed out loud. "Way to go, Tobes. Just like I showed you."

The owl glanced at her, but she paid it no mind, instead watching her brother beat up the bully who had just tried to steal his shoes. She fingered his triumphant face in the crystal gently, letting a quiet sigh escape her.

"I miss you, Toby," she whispered. "I'll make sure I get home soon, and everything will go back to normal. I promise."

The owl shifted again. When she looked up at it, the soft feathers around its face came into contact with her cheek. It gave a soft hoot as it gently rubbed its head against her skin. She managed a small smile. This oddly intelligent animal was trying to reassure her, or at least bring her some level of comfort. And it did seem to be working.

She pulled back from it and stoked its wing carefully. Upon glancing into its eyes, she noticed something flicker. She frowned, some kind of adrenaline coursing slowly through her.

"Jareth?" she dared to breathe.

The owl blinked then suddenly took off into the sky, batting her hand away with its wing as it did. The wind it caused made her hair flutter. She jumped to her feet and stared after it, but did not call it back. She could never be really sure anyway. And besides, the last thing they needed was something else to make the atmosphere between them any more tense.

* * *

In his owl form, Jareth knew he was inconspicuous. At least to Sarah. If and when she recognized him, he knew that he would no longer be able to trick her. He just had not expected her to find out so quickly. He refused to linger on how easily he'd been caught out, instead choosing to dwell on what she'd said.

She was definitely getting that missing spark back, though how was another matter entirely. The tone with which she'd first spoken to him with was far too snarky for his liking - which meant, of course, this was the normal Sarah. If he could have laughed, he would have, too. Her betting that the goblins would glady fry him up for her had been amusing in itself, but the fact that she thought it'd perhaps be "weird" was almost too much. And he was not even sure if "weird" was the word for it. Ironic, perhaps.

_"Just like I showed you..."_

That phrase stuck in his head, but it certainly didn't shock him. It was very much like Sarah to know how to defend herself, and to pass her skills and knowledge onto those she cared about. It had also been no surprise that she missed her brother. One would have to be blind _and _stupid not to see that. He had not needed her to say it aloud.

He had tried to comfort her in his alien guilt, but it was then that the jig was up. Not knowing what else to do, the Goblin King had fled for the first time in his life. Now, he felt somewhat stupid. Apparently, the confidence he'd had last night had taken a holiday on another planet.

He knew that it was all the guilt making him tired. It was not a feeling he was used to at all, and it was sapping his mental and physical energy. The Goblin King almost wished that things could have been different. That he hadn't tried to have his way with an obviously unwilling Sarah; that he hadn't had to steal her away. He wished that she hadn't forgotten everything at all...

He rubbed his forehead at the oncoming headache, and absently wondered how long Sarah had actually been here for her to actually get under his thick skin so easily.

_Hmm...we must be on the fifth day now. Only eight left..._

This knowledge startled the Goblin King. That was hardly any time at all. At first, he'd thought she was making incredible progress, but there was still so much more to remember. Did they really even have enough time left? Surely there had to be a way to speed the process up. He had originally assumed that déja vu would prompt the return of her memories as it had done before, but it seemed that this was not always the case.

He hauled himself out of his daze when a rather flustered young goblin stumbled into the throne room. He stood panting before Jareth for several seconds before he was able to speak.

"Majesty!" he wheezed. "In kitchens!"

It seemed that the young thing was so completely out of breath that he could not even finish his sentence. Jareth got to his feet and began walking towards the kitchens. If there was a problem, it was his job to see to it, especially if the goblins couldn't fix it. But whatever it was, he doubted it was anything to get so flustered over. The goblins were always flustered over minor problems, thought he supposed they had every right to be. Many a time before, his foul mood had turned trivial disturbances into acts punishable by instant bogging. And none of them, not even Jareth himself, looked forward to the smell that lingered after _that_.

When he actually opened the door to the kitchens, he frowned slightly. Sarah had her back to him and was on her knees on the floor, slightly hunched over something that he could not see. She appeared to be shaking.

"Sarah?" he asked, not sure what to make of her or what his presence would cause.

She turned herself slightly to face him, and he was surprised to see that her face and eyes were pink, and she was crying. Her expression was pleading. What she said next shocked him even more as he had never expected those words to even form in her mind, never mind on her lips.

"Jareth, help," she breathed.

He glanced down to see what she appeared to be holding onto. A goblin. An old and very clearly dying goblin. Normally, having a goblin die for whatever reason would be nothing too serious for him, but clearly it was for Sarah. He could hardly believe that after what he'd done she was asking for his help. It made him feel oddly empty because here was an oppurtunity to gain her trust, and he knew there was nothing he could do.

He moved around her slightly to crouch by her side, and glanced down at the goblin she held.

"Catty," he sighed, remembering her name and recognizing her. She was the goblin who'd been with him the longest, and without ever being bogged, if he was remembering correctly.

"Majesty," the goblin replied. Her voice was croaky and wheezy. Her breathing was laboured.

"Please don't talk," Sarah whimpered, holding the goblin's shoulders tightly.

"Not talkin'...ain't gonna save my breath," Catty told Sarah honestly.

"Can't you do something?" Sarah suddenly asked him.

Not entirely sure how to respond without upsetting her further, he simply shook his head.

"Why not?" she demanded. "You're magic!"

"Nothing can prevent death due to old age, Sarah."

Well, that was not entirely true. It _was _possible, but that would mean tapping into extremely dark magic. It was not that the Goblin King did not possess the power to do such a thing, but he had sworn that he never would after he'd seen its effects almost one hundred years ago. The goblin would still walk and talk; would still be considered alive in medical terms, but would be...different. Jareth was not sure if there were even words to describe what one would become like if brought from the brink of death by dark magic. And then there was the problem of the darker forces from beyond seeking their penance.

No, he simply could not and would not risk it for one goblin who was well past her prime. Not even to keep Sarah happy.

He stayed in his crouching position beside her as the goblin breathed her last. They were surrounded by at least five other goblins, most of whom where young. Sarah and Catty whispered to each other, but he tried not to pay attention to what they were saying. He was hardly a fan of death, even amongst his goblins.

Sarah's breath suddenly hitched.

"It's not fair," she hissed.

For once, he could not help but agree with her. Now, she had that basis for comparison she'd been lacking as a child. She released the dead goblin and jumped to her feet, practically fleeing the room. He rose to his own feet, and glanced down at the small group of goblins huddled around him.

"Take her below," he instructed them. "Once you've done that, let the goblins know that they may have the day off."

He turned to follow Sarah. Part of him thought that it would be best to leave her, but the other side of him that wanted to make up for terrifying her told him to pursue her. To let her see that he was not a complete monster, even though these urges made little sense. Wasn't he supposed to hate her?

She seemed to be trying to find her way back to her chambers. In her current emotional state, that was certainly going to take some time, however. Without a level head and very clear idea of where she wanted to go, the castle could very well lead her straight into an Oubliette.

"Sarah, stop walking," he said softly. She ignored him completely. His anger flared. "As a king, I order you to stop!" he hissed.

She did so then, freezing completely and flinching at his tone. He could see that her muscles were tensing in anticipation of whatever it was he wanted, and that she was shaking due to repressed sobs.

Slowly, so as not to frighten her, he reached out and took a hold of her shoulder. He spun her gently to face him. She looked nervous, even through the tears and the strange sorrow she seemed to feel at the loss of his goblin. He felt himself grow somewhat tender as he stroked a finger under her chin, keeping her head up so he could look into her eyes as he spoke.

"Why so sad, Sarah?" he asked. "Catty was just a goblin."

She took a step away from his touch, shaking her head profusely. He was not sure whether she was stepping away from him in fear, or out of anger because she disagreed with him.

"No, she wasn't," Sarah insisted heatedly. "Not to me. She was the only friend I had in this place. It's not fair."

"Catty was well over three hundred years old. Well past the average goblin lifespan," he explained, distracted by the sorrow in her eyes. "Sarah," he implored, voice delicate, "do tell me why you're so upset over a goblin you've barely known for a few days."

She sniffled, but answered him.

"Catty was coughing and wheezing," she said. "I told her that something was wrong, but she shrugged it off. It was just like my dad when he got cancer. I knew something was wrong because of all the coughing, but he wouldn't see a doctor. By the time he did, it was too late."

He felt a sigh escape him. Of course. Catty's death was bringing up a traumatic memory of another similar death. None of this was very fair for her at all, but he had no idea what to do. And the Goblin King was rarely at a loss. Some part of him saw this as another oppurtunity to get her to trust him, but it was rather far-fetched of him to expect her to believe him.

"Look at me, Sarah," he commanded. Her teary eyes rose to meet his. His hands went out slowly to take hold of her face. He took a very small step closer to her. Her eyes flickered slightly. "I'm not going to hurt you," he promised, sensing the fear. "I know it is not easy for you to be here without anyone to talk to or even relate to. I myself have hardly made it better for you, especially after what happened last night. But I need you to know that, despite everything, you can trust me. If you require company, do not hesitate to ask for it. If you need or want something, ask for it. But you must also be under no illusion that I am not a monarch. I still have my rules, and my orders must be obeyed." Part of his mind saw an oppurtunity to attempt to make her remember something, but neither of them could deal with that pain right now. So he chose not to utter the phrase 'Do as I say and I will be your slave'. "Do you understand?"

He was surprised when her hands came up to rest over his. A small nod escaped her. Jareth was even more startled when she moved closer to him and wrapped her arms around her neck, burrowing her face into his collarbone. This particular side of Sarah seemed to be a whole other person. A child, in fact. Not the woman that she undoubtedly was.

Trying not to take the trust she was putting in him at that moment for granted, he allowed his own arms to snake around her, holding her shaking body in a firm but gentle embrace. His position allowed him to touch her, to smell her. In that moment, with her body pressed up against his, he almost forgot why he couldn't have her, and he wondered why it was so unfair.

"Jareth...I-I _want _to trust you - and to like you. I _do _want to_. _But I'm...scared."

"Of what, pet?" he asked. Neither of them failed to notice the endearment, but both chose to ignore it. It was too much to take in right now, for both of them. "Me?"

It came as no shock to him when she replied, "A little." Then, she added, "But I've got this really weird feeling that...I'm running out of time. Does that make sense?"

"Yes," he replied. "It makes perfect sense." She really had no idea just how much sense it actually made. But still, he would not tell her. He changed the subject. "Perhaps you'd like to return to your room?"

"Yeah."

He released her as she moved out of his grip, but he held an arm out for her. He did not need to explain what it was for. She willingly took his arm and he began leading her up the corridors and stairs.

They walked in complete silence until they reached the door of her chambers. When he released her for the second time, she turned to look at him, her hand on the knob of the door.

"Um, thanks for...understanding, I guess."

All he could do was nod before a burst of inspiration hit him.

"Join me for dinner tonight?" he asked, practically blurting it out like some idiotic mortal. "I know you must hate eating alone every night, and now with Catty no longer here..."

He trailed off, letting her conclude the rest for herself. After all, how bad could it really be? It would undoubtedly force them both to talk about something trivial which would then lead to some kind of mutual understanding. Hopefully...

She gave him a small smile that made his stomach churn oddly, and not in a bad way either.

"I'd like that."

"I'll return for you at seven o'clock," he said.

"Okay," she whispered.

Giving her a nod, he turned and began walking away from her. He did not hear the door close until he had turned a corner and was out of sight. A smirk of victory graced his lips, but he didn't bother chastising himself. He had every right to be victorious and happy about it right now.

**I'M SO SORRY CATTY! I DIDN'T WANT YOU TO DIE! Except I kinda did. It creates all sorts of awesome story-writing oppurtunities. But this is where things will start to get better, promise :) Please review :3 I also have something to say about Catty dying. I realise I could have made it a lot more heartfelt and teary, but writing what happens between two people as one of them dies is always awfully cliché and we're sort of seeing it from Jareth's side and he doesn't care nearly as much as Sarah does.**


	12. 11: In Which Sarah Drinks A Tad Too Much

**(A/N): What happened here was writer's block attacked my muse. It kidnapped her and tied her up and left her for dead. But with the help of a teensy bit of alcohol, I found her and my plans for this chapter were born :P Slightly shorter chapter than usual. And you're gonna want to read the author's note at the end of this :D**

Sarah spent almost an hour having an argument with her inner self over one question: should she change her dress, or shouldn't she? It made logical sense that she should. The one she currently had on was casual and creased from her kneeling on the floor an awful lot. And she was going to be dining with a king. But at the same time, she did not want it to seem as if she was worried about looking good for him. Which she wasn't! Why should she be? She did not like him. Right?

She hated this conflict. Of course she did not like him for so many reasons. That only made the fact that she wanted to like him all the more confusing. Worrying about her opposing feelings was doing nothing for helping her decide whether or not to change though.

Eventually, she came to the conclusion that she should bathe, which would lead to the removal of her current dress, and the putting on of another one. The bath decided for her that she was going to change.

As she washed and dressed, she also decided that she was going to bring up the owl she'd met this morning. She was certain it had been him. Perhaps he would not admit to it, but his reaction to the mention of it would hopefully provide her answer. It was strange to her that he was suddenly so much more gentle and comforting than he had been before. She was not sure if it was a conscious effort on his part or not that he was more compassionate now than he once had been. Either way, she supposed it was a good thing.

But even the kindness he was now showing did not make her so much more comfortable with him that she thought she could get away with blurting such a thing out. He was still a king, as he'd said, and his moods seemed worryingly volatile. She was going to have to be careful with how she went about mentioning the owl, lest she should suffer from his anger again. And she, to use the cliché term, _really _didn't want that.

Slipping on a pair of delicate shoes to match the silvery-gold dress she was wearing, she sat down at the vanity. She had no idea what time it was as there was not a clock in this room. As she thought about it, she realised she hadn't seen one clock here with the exception of the throne room, and even then it had thirteen hours instead of twelve. Wondering why someone would need twenty-six hours in a day instead of just twenty-four, she lapsed into a kind of autopilot mode in which she daydreamed, letting her mind wander aimlessly.

She jerked in fright as someone rapped on the door three times, yanking her out of her trance. What was worse was that she was feeling considerably less confident now than she had been some time ago. She'd been totally prepared for casually asking Jareth a number of questions without getting herself into trouble, and she'd even been looking forward to the night. Now that he was standing just outside the door, she felt nervous and certain that he would be angry if she asked any of her questions.

Still, she could not sit here at this desk forever and hope he would go away. She knew that he wouldn't. He was too...overwhelming without even trying to simply leave her be. Taking a deep breath, she bravely got to her feet and approached the door, wondering how on earth she should act. After everything, and now that she had calmed herself from their confrontation in the corridor, she was not sure if she could even be normal.

_Ha, define normal, _she thought to herself as she opened the door. She found it unexplainably compelling that the Goblin King, simply by standing there and grinning at her, could incite such a feeling of fear in her, and yet also draw her in. Surely that wasn't right.

Nevertheless, she pushed everything aside and managed to return his smile, although hers was considerably more timid. He offered her his arm, but she only took it after a few seconds of doubtful hesitation. He led her away from the room and down the corridor.

"I'm sure you've plenty of questions floating around your head," he said as they began a descent of the stairs. "I will try to answer them, but I make no promises."

She nodded, but decided to keep her questions to herself for the moment lest he should decide to cancel this dinner. And she did not think she could face returning to the kitchen again today.

Sarah momentarily lost track of where she was when they stopped outside a set of double doors. She found it odd that she'd never come across them before as she was certain she'd stumbled upon almost every door in the castle. Jareth surprised her by acting the gentleman and holding the door open for her. But she knew it should not have come as a shock. He was a king, and probably had been for a long time. He was sure to have manners, at least.

She moved past him into the room and stared around. It was much the same as the rest of the castle: brown stones walls and floors with massive windows all around. A rather old-looking but bright chandalier hung over a large wooden table. It looked like it would have seated twelve, but it was set for only two. There was also a fireplace along the wall closest to the table, warming the room.

She was not really sure how to conduct herself as he pulled her chair out for her and then moved around to sit opposite her. She jerked in fright when Jareth snapped his fingers, but she had to appreciate the magic as a bowl of some kind of soup appeared in front of her. She glanced up at him, not exactly sure how to word her question, but he answered it before she could speak.

"I gave the goblins the day off," he explained. "While I'm sure that they would have been all to happy to continue for our benefit, it seemed the correct thing to do."

"Oh," she muttered, still unsure as to how she was supposed to take him. She ate the soup slowly, trying to match his pace. A spur of the moment decision had her speaking again. "This morning there was an owl on the balcony."

She studied his face from under her lashes. Almost nothing gave him away except from one tiny twitch in his eyelid.

"Oh?" he replied.

"Yeah," she went on, trying not to sound too suspiscious. "I thought it was kind of weird because the only birds I've seen here are crows and chickens."

"And what did this...owl do?"

"Not much," she said conversationally, determined as he was not to give anything away. "It just kind of sat there and watched me. I think it knew I wasn't feeling very happy."

"Perhaps it did," he nodded. "Owls are intelligent creatures. Perhaps it was sorry for whatever has happened to you to make you unhappy, and it was trying to tell you that things would soon get better."

The Goblin King kept his eyes down as he spoke, so he missed her mouth drop open just a fraction. She was...rather touched by his words. Was this him trying to apologize for everything he'd done to her? And what did he mean that things would get better soon?

She took several more spoonfuls of the soup.

"How much do I really have to remember?" she asked.

"Everything," he replied in a low voice.

"But why?"

"I cannot give you that answer," he said. "But it is important."

"If it's so important, then why can't I know? Don't you think it's only fair that I know why?" she demanded.

He shot her a dangerous look that made her flinch, then hissed, "I've warned you before to watch your tone with me. And as I've already said, you can't know. It would affect everything, and it would become a hinderance in your progress."

"What progress?" she snorted suddenly, surprising them both. "I haven't remembered anything in days."

It was true. Sarah had no idea how much she was supposed to be remembering, but she knew she hadn't remembered very much. A couple of flashes of bigger memories, a few phrases, and one oddly surreal ballroom dance with the king. And then there was that dream about Toby in that room with the stairs. Had that been a memory?

As Jareth stared at her from across the table, she closed her eyes tightly and tried to remember as she had been doing a lot during her free time. She thought back to when everything around her had been falling down and breaking. She herself had been falling into complete blackness. But what had happened after that? Trying to force the memory to surface was futile. All she was doing was giving herself a headache in exchange for nothing. So she stopped trying.

The Goblin King said nothing about it. They finished their first course in silence. Neither spoke until Sarah was about halfway through the second course.

"Tell me about your brother," Jareth said suddenly.

Initially, Sarah was thrilled at the prospect of describing her wondeerful younger sibling, but as she opened her mouth, she became suspiscious. She frowned at him slightly.

"Why would you want to know about him?"

"Because you obviously love him very much, and I thought it would be nice if you were able to talk about him," the king replied evenly.

She immediately felt a stab of guilt. He was apparently making an effort, and she was being too guarded. Though surely she had a right to be. Nevertheless, she tried to bypass the awkward silence.

"He turned nine a few weeks ago," she said, not really sure of what to say. "He gets pretty good grades in school, except for Math. But I guess I can't really blame him there." Sarah found a smile creeping into her lips. She barely noticed Jareth watching her intently as she began to animatedly describe her little brother to him. By the time a rich dessert of chocolate cake came around and Sarah was feeling rather giddy and warm from just a tad too much wine, she was laughing _with _the king over memories of Toby and his mishaps. "I don't think he knew what he was doing, really, but still, Karen was completely livid!"

Jareth was chuckling lightly, and smiling at her.

"You find it amusing when your step-mother is angered?"

"Well, not any more. She's a vile old bitch now, and I guess I've grown past petty pranks," she sighed, letting herself calm down. She could feel the redness in her chest and face return to her normal colour now that she was not giggling, but she was still flushed from the wine. "But I still manage to piss her off without trying. Even when I try to do something _right _it only annoys her more. So I just don't try. There's no pleasing her."

Sarah did not fail to notice that with every mouthful of wine she consumed, the more colourful her vocabulary was becoming, and the more bold she was becoming in her tone. But the king did not seem to mind. In fact, he seemed to be finding it rather amusing.

"I'm sure that whatever you do is perfectly satisfactory," he grinned.

"I'm sure it is too!" she yelped. "But whatever, she's the boss. What she says goes!"

The Goblin King raised his eyebrows.

"I do believe you've had quite enough to drink," he smiled.

Sarah gulped down the rest of the delicious wine as quickly as she could then dramatically slammed the glass back onto the table. She crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, smirking defiantly.

Trying to impersonate his voice, but failing halfway through the sentence, she said, "I do believe you have _no _idea what you're talking about, Goblin King. I know my limits."

"Do you really?" he smirked. "When was the last time you had alcohol, Sarah?"

"Well, I've never really had wine before," she muttered, trying to reason with both herself and the king. "I was drinking vodka, and they're totally different. Besides, I wasn't supposed to be drinking vodka." Her voice suddenly became hushed as she leaned across the table. "Daddy would've been so mad and Karen would have kicked my ass."

She suddenly hiccuped and burped. She covered her mouth, embarrassed.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "I feel kinda sick."

"Perhaps you could use some fresh air," he suggested, getting to his feet and moving around the table towards her.

* * *

Jareth sighed, but he had to admit he was rather amused by Sarah. He had not even noticed how much wine she was drinking, but he was fairly certain she hadn't either. Fresh air was really the only way to help her. If there was one thing magic could not do, it was to relieve the immediate effects of alcohol.

Her arm was laced through his, but he held on tightly lest she should fall, which seemed to be a certainty right now. Still, he was glad she was in this state. It was the first time she'd ever really lowered her inhibitions and been herself, although he'd wager she was not _entirely _herself. The alcohol was making her loud and giggly, and he was willing to bet his life that the normal Sarah was not.

He lifted his hand as they entered the gardens. The moon provided a dim glow of its own and the fairies glimmered faintly, but it was not enough to see where they were going. The crystal ball he created floated in the air beside Sarah, glowing brightly to illuminate the path they walked on.

"Oh, it's so pretty," she smiled, staring at it with wonder. She turned to stare up at him, a goofy smile on her lips. "You're so cool."

Jareth laughed, genuinely amused by her.

"You don't know the half of it, pet," he grinned.

"Show me?" she begged, pouting and pulling those famous 'puppy dog' eyes that children did.

"Not now," he chucked. "Not while you're too intoxicated to even remember."

"I am _not _intopsic- inboxed...I am _not_."

They pair of them laughed, though Jareth's was much lighter than hers. He led her to a nearby marble bench and made sure she was safely seated on it before he joined her at her side.

Sarah surprised him by shifting suddenly so that she was lying on her back with her head in his lap. She wasn't looking at him, though. She was staring up into the sky at the stars, using her finger to draw imaginary pictures in them. Her clouded eyes told him she was still completely drunk and that it wasn't going to change any time soon. He allowed his hand to play with a lock of her hair. She did not notice.

"The stars are so bright here," she mumbled, mostly to herself he suspected. "They kinda remind me of you."

"Oh?" he asked, interested. He really had to admire the effects of alcohol. Honesty in its most blunt form was always refreshing, especially coming from Sarah. "How so?"

"'Cause they're always just out of reach and I can't figure them out," she said seriously. He frowned down at her. "They look beautiful from far away, but up close, they're dangerous, right? All the patterns they make are confusing. I like stars, but they're a bit too much sometimes. You're a lot like the stars..." He was not sure what to say or how to react. But then she added, "Plus, stars are all sparkly like you too."

Perhaps alcohol wasn't that great after all.

**Ah, alcohol, Y U RUIN THE SPECIAL MOMENT?!  
We hated on Karen a bit in this chapter, but I think we should cut her some slack. I mean, her husband died, leaving her with a teenage step-daughter and her own son all alone. She's probably had it just as rough as Sarah has. Still, in her slightly inebriated state, I don't think Sarah was in a very forgiving mood when it comes to her step-mother.  
Anyway, my genius plan here to get through my block was to get Sarah gloriously drunk. Poor girl is a lightweight (rather like myself). Anyway, to spoil it, I'm going to have Jareth leave the castle the next day to do king stuff and have Sarah spend the day herself. We need SOMETHING to happen, I just don't know what. So if you guys could let me know what you'd like to see happen, I'll think about it and you might even get a mention if your idea is used :P**

**The only thing that made this chapter so long was this author's note XD. Please review :3 Me love you long time.**


	13. 12: In Which Sarah Meets An Old Friend

**I seem to be suffering the effects of Sarah's hangover. Damn those headaches, sneakin' up on me. But we have painkillers for that.  
ANYWAY, I had block with the last chapter, so I used alcohol to get over that XD. THEN I got stuck with this chapter. SO thanks to those of you who gave me ideas, but kzal's was my favourite although there are aspects of other ideas in there too :3**

Sarah's head seemed to have its own heartbeat. It throbbed with an odd new pulse that she was sure it hadn't had before. She found it somewhat worrying that she could not remember the night before, but she chose to push it to the back of her mind: it was causing her head to pound more wildly.

She groaned, but that hurt too. Sunlight was streaming over her eyes. She frowned and moved so that she could press the pillow over her head in an attempt to dim the light and ease the pain. While she was grateful for the breeze that blew over her and cooled her down, the birds chirping outside made her head feel like it was splitting. She wanted to scream at them to shut up, but she knew it would only make her head throb more.

As she curled up into a ball, she heard slight movement in the room, but she was in too much pain to worry about what it was.

"Move the pillow," a voice ordered.

She groaned in her protest as someone started trying to pull the pillow off her head. She gripped it tighter and held it firmly. There was an angry sigh, and the pillow was ripped from her hands. Her eyes flew open, and sunlight struck her. She yelped and closed her eyes again, promptly rolling over so that her back was to the sun.

The familiar sensation of fingers touching her temples and then an odd numbness resonated through her head. Just like that, her hellish headache was gone. She breathed a sigh of relief, a previously unnoticed nausea dissipating also.

"Thanks, Jareth," she muttered. And then she realised who she was thanking. She sat bolt upright, eyes flying open to stare at the Goblin King. He was sitting on the edge of her bed, right next to her, and smirking as if he thought he was the best thing in the world. "Jareth! What are you doing in here?!"

"You had a considerable amount of alcohol last night," he explained. "I doubt you remember very much after the soup. In any case, I thought it was best to relieve your hangover as soon as you awoke because I'll be gone for the better part of the whole day."

Sarah nodded as he spoke.

"Where are you going?" she dared to ask.

"Not far," was his vague answer. "If you should need me for any reason, the goblins will have no trouble in finding me. But I must insist you do not seek me out for anything less than an emergency."

Wondering what he was going to do exactly, but feeling too nervous to ask, she simply settled for saying, "Okay."

He got to his feet and made his way to the door. Her eyes followed his movements, and he paused just before exiting the room. He glanced back at her, a small smirk on his face.

"Do try to stay out of trouble while I'm gone," he insisted. "Goodbye, Sarah."

As he disappeared through the door, she whispered, "Bye." She could have sworn she heard his step falter for only a moment.

Now that he was out of earshot, she let out a groan. She could remember sitting down to dinner with him and talking about her brother, but nothing else. She could not remember what they'd done afterwards, or even how she'd gotten up to bed. How had she even gotten so drunk? A sudden rush of adrenaline had her throwing the blankets off her body to make sure she was clothed.

She _was, _and the outfit was the same dress she remembered picking out the evening before. The only differences were it was rather creased from sleeping on it, and the ties of the bodice were loosened slightly. She convinced herself that it was she who'd done that as she knew that while drunk she had a tendency to hate on any tight clothing.

Stretching her body out like a cat, she got to her feet, pleased to see that she was suffering from no effects of the hangover. She ran herself a bath and quickly washed herself, opting for the lavander scent today over the apple she usually went for. Perhaps she was hoping that with the Goblin King gone today, she would be able to relax a little. Lavender was supposed to help with that, wasn't it?

When she stepped out of the bathroom and into the bedroom after brushing her teeth and wrapping a towel around herself, she glanced outside. It was sunny, and it looked hot. She chose a pale plue dress that stopped just above her knees. The straps were relatively thin, so she dug through the chest of drawers and found a thin white shawl to wear over her shoulders. Brushing a comb through her now dry hair, she wiggled her feet into a pair of dainty slippers and picked up the crystal Jareth had given her from the bedside table. She glanced into it to see Toby running around the playground at school during recess, and she smiled fondly.

Tucking the clear ball into a pouch at the side of the dress that resembled a pocket, she made her way through the corridors to the kitchen. It was oddly lonely without Catty there, and though there was a definite feeling of solemness in the air, the goblins seemed to be going about business as usual. Even the smaller ones were happily launching food at each other.

She accepted the breakfast of bacon and eggs they prepared for her kindly, but quickly got out of the kitchen. She did not want to linger. She made her way to the library instead. Choosing several books that looked interesting, she stacked them up and carried them towards the open glass doors that led into the garden. The goblin sitting at the desk didn't spare her a glance, so she assumed there was no issue with taking the books outside.

She sat down on a nearby bench, pausing for a second to smile at the group of young goblins playing on a patch of grass. These ones seemed incredibly young, perhaps even babies. Certainly too young to be working. Or perhaps they weren't too young at all, and were taking the time to enjoy themselves with the king gone.

Sarah managed to get through almost seven chapters of a fiction story about the love between a fairy and a brownie (a story she assumed was for children, but one that she enjoyed nonetheless) before something happened. The goblins suddenly squealed as one and began giggling. When she glanced up from the children's tale, she gasped slightly.

They seemed to be dancing or playing with something. It was huge, whatever it was. She could only see its back as it was facing away from her, but she could tell it was covered in a thick coat of rust-coloured fur. Almost the colour of an orang-utang. Its arms were massive and thick, only slightly thinner than her body, and its hands were huge. It was standing on rather short legs though, its long tail trailing out behind it. It also seemed to be talking, though she could only hear odd grunts and groans.

Curious, she got to her feet. It did not seem to pose any threat as the child-goblins were happily playing with it, so she approached. Its laugh was deep and growly. As it turned around, she caught sight of its rather flat face, framed by two long, droopy ears and sharp, curved horns. Two sharp teeth protruded from its mouth. Despite its rather beastly appearance and deep, rumbly voice that resembled a growl, its eyes were kind and friendly. It seemed to be smiling at her, so she smiled back.

"Sawah...fwiend," it droned out.

Her smile faltered.

"L...Ludo?" she found herself asking.

Without warning, a very familiar sharp pain shot through her head. It sent her to her knees, and she vaguely heard the goblins squeal in fright.

_A bright orange monster is suspended by its ankles in the air with goblins riding on strange birds taunting it. Sarah finds herself angered by this. What has the monster ever done to them? It roars in pain and anger, and suddenly Sarah catches sight of a rock at her feet. Grabbing it, she tosses it at the goblins taunting the beast._

Sarah lifted her hands to her head, gripping it tightly as if that would force the pain to go away.

_"Ludo...down!"_

_"Ludo?" Sarah asks, letting her hand rest on the underside of his chin. "Is that your name?"_

_The monster crashes to the ground loudly and yelps._

_"Oh, I'm sorry! Ludo, are you hurt? Ludo?"_

_The monster sits up and shakes his head._

Tiny hands patted her legs, concerned. A low growl met her ears, but she couldn't respond.

_Sarah turns to discover her new friend has taken the ring from the door knocker into his mouth. He smiles at her._

_"Ludo," she laughs, pulling it out._

For a moment, Sarah wondered what the doors were doing there, but then more flashes of memories engulfed her.

_She and Ludo are making their way slowly through a rather dark forest that is coated in a shimmering layer of...something. Sarah is bravely walking ahead, when Ludo grumbles behind her._

_"Ludo scared."_

_"Oh...give me your hand." She holds her out to him. "Come on. Imagine a big thing like you being scared."_

_"Yeah..."_

It was odd that Sarah could remember the exact confusion she'd felt upon discovering that something like Ludo was afraid of the forest.

_Suddenly, the ledge breaks and Sarah and her short friend plummet downwards. She shrieks, but lands on something soft._

_"Ludo!"_

Sarah remained on her knees clutching her head as memory after memory of her time with Ludo seemed to claw its way back into her brain. Eventually, the image of the massive orange monster sitting on her bed came to mind, and then she regained control of what she could see and hear.

Her head throbbed sharply. Opening her eyes hurt. The tiny goblins around her leapt around, muttering to themselves. She felt Ludo's massive hand on her back. She moved as he sat down at her side so that her head was buried in the thick fur on his arm. He patted her as gently as he could.

"Sarah...sick?" he asked.

"N-No," she managed. "I'm not sick. I-"

She broke off. It would take too much effort to explain it to Ludo right now. She gripped fistfuls of his fur, trying not to scream. It just hurt too much. It was like someone was drilling into her. Tears fell freely, but she barely noticed.

"Lady?" one of the tiny goblins asked. "We get Kingy?"

"No," she insisted. "He said not to bother him - unless it was an emergency."

Opening her eyes for a second and glancing down, she saw the litle goblins shrug to themselves and disappear back inside the castle. Ludo remained with her. He was still patting her back as she burrowed into his arm, as if his fur could alleviate the pain.

"Ludo missed Sarah," he growled.

Sarah realised with a pang that she could not say she had missed him too. She had not even remembered him until a few seconds ago. She gripped his arm tighter, inhaling the earthy scent of his fur.

"I know," she breathed, trying to stay calm through the pain. She could only hope that the pain would dissipate on its own, or that Jareth would be back soon.

* * *

Once he was through the window of the throne room, he transformed back into his more human form. It was perfectly fine to be an owl for some amount of time, but anything over fifteen minutes made him uncomfortable. He was glad to have his arms back in place of wings.

Glancing out of the window he'd just flown through, he noted the setting sun. He silently thanked the heavens that the rest of his day was going to go by considerably better than the metting with Catty's family had. It was not that he was not sympathetic, it was just that having almost twenty goblins crowd around him in one tiny house and weep was not his favourite pasttime.

He released a sigh, sinking into his throne for a moment. A minute of respite was well-needed right now. It was very short-lived however. A group of around five very young goblins suddenly burst into the room, loud and hyperactive. When they set their eyes on him, they yelled happily.

"Kingy's back!"

"Tell Kingy about the Lady!"

The five of them suddely went oddly quiet and nervous. He sat up straighter. He seemed to remember telling Sarah to stay out of trouble in his absence. He'd only been gone for around eight hours.

"What of her?" he prompted the goblins.

"This morning," one started.

"She's falled over."

"When big rock-caller saw her."

They continued to explain what had happened to Sarah, but he was no longer listening. He already knew. The rock-caller, Ludo, would no doubt have triggered an enormous onslaught of memories. He got to his feet.

"Where is she?"

"Still in gardens," one smiled.

He did not bother with walking there. He merely tansported himself into the garden and glanced around for her. She almost went missed by his eyes, but Ludo's orange fur was what caught his attention. He was sitting on the ground, staring down at something in his arms. Closer inspection told him it was Sarah gripping him tightly.

He moved closer to them. Ludo gave him a glance, then went right back to looking down at Sarah. She was shaking, and her breathing was ragged.

"Sarah," he said.

"Make it stop," she begged.

He was taken aback by the sheer desperation in her voice, but he was even more shocked when she looked up at him. A trickle of blood dripped from her nose. She had clearly been crying, but her eyes were far too bloodshot. Red veins in her eyes seemed to be cracked all around the whites, giving her a rather frightening appearance. This was nowhere near normal.

He frowned, but chose not to say anything. The last thing she needed was to be fretting and getting herself more worked up. He lifted his hands and pressed his fingers to her temples. She closed her eyes as his magic surged through her. Pulling away, his frown deepend.

"It still hurts," she moaned, closing her eyes and burying her face back into the fur of the rock-caller. "Is...Is my nose bleeding? Why am I bleeding?"

Making a decision there and then, he took her arms and pulled her away from her monstrous friend. This was definitely not normal. His magic was not working properly on her for one thing.

"You need to see my healer," he said. "Can you stand?"

She used his arms to pull herself up, but as soon as he loosened his grip, she began to fall again. He swiftly caught her and lifted her into the air. The rock-caller followed him as he carried her back towards the castle. She held onto his shoulder with one hand, wiping at her slowly bleeding nose with the other.

Her hands were shaking badly.

"Have you been like this all day?" he asked her. Her silence was enough to confirm it. "Sarah-"

"You said not to bother you unless it was an emergency," she interrupted quickly. "I thought the pain would go away."

"Sarah, that was as good an emergency as any," he chastised her softly. "I would never have you in pain like that."

"W-Why is my nose bleeding?" she asked again in a panicked voice, wiping yet another trickle of blood from her face.

"I suspect it's because you were in pain so long," he muttered. "The healer will tell us more."

He was certain she would be alright, and he suspected that was why he was being so calm. The beast called Ludo lumbered after them, but he paid it no mind. Sarah had now wrapped both of her arms around his neck and was resting her head on his shoulder. He looked down at her with an odd kind of tenderness, but quickly corrected himself and focussed on getting her to the infirmary.

He would ask her what she remembered later, although he could certainly hazard a guess.

**I know that Sarah's memories of Ludo might be a bit confusing, but they're all from the movie, just rather scattered and patchy and jumbled together. Though if you're able to place them, you'll know they ARE in chronological order. Look at me, bein' all...chronological.**

**Anyway, this was NOT my best chapter. Possibly the worst one I've written for this story. I'm not really sure why, but I think it lacked something. Here's hoping the next chapter is a beast.**

**Gah, shut up LB. Please review :D**


	14. 13: In Which Jareth Gives In To An Urge

**I forget what chapter we're on...meh, it doesn't matter. Moving on :P I could have left it a few more days before posting this, but a friend from France is coming to visit for the week and I don't know if I would have had time to post it otherwise. So the next chapter might be a while, but we're certainly not talking WEEKS here. I mean a few days...maybe...**

Sarah's vision was foggy, as was her hearing. She could remember Jareth carrying her to the infirmary then being placed on a bed. She could also remember some disgusting liquid that tasted strongly of aniseed and something else foul being forced down her throat, then not much else. She assumed she was losing and gaining consciousness repeatedly.

She tried to force herself to stay awake, desperate to find out what was wrong with her, but she only caught snippets of conversation. Something about dangerously high levels of pain...both physical and nuerological. She could barely make sense of the words in her drugged state, and trying to move was proving impossible, so she tried to relax instead. Sluggish as she was, she was still incredibly aware of her surroundings which seemed to be changing from relatively light to dark rapidly. It seemed that every time she blinked, another change was made.

At some point, she gave up trying to use the four senses that weren't touch altogether. Whatever medicine the healer had given her was dulling them down anyway. She slipped into unconsciousness once more.

When she awoke this time, it was deathly quiet and very dim. Only a few candles gave away any light. She supposed that was for the best though, as her head was still faintly pounding, and she was sure any harsh light would only double that. She looked around the room, eyes coming to rest on Jareth. He was sitting in a chair directly next to her bed, and was watching her so intently that she doubted he even noticed she was awake. It was only when she moved to sit up that he snapped out of his daze.

He sat on the edge of the seat as if waiting to aid her should she need it, but she didn't. She managed to sit herself up just fine, shrugging off the dizziness that followed.

"Where's Ludo?" she asked him.

"It might surprise you to know that he is still a child and has a curfew," Jareth replied. "He went home. How is your head?"

She lifted her hand to massage her forehead.

"Still a little sore," she admitted. "It's not as bad as it was before though."

Jareth immediately reached out to touch her temples. One of the most miniscule surges of magic left his fingers, and Sarah sighed with relief. She whispered her thanks.

"What did the healer give me?" she asked. "It was disgusting."

"A tonic to dull your senses and alleviate the pain," he muttered. "My guess would be it made you rather sluggish and drowsy and you didn't really hear what we were talking about." She nodded, and he went on. "The levels of nuerological pain you feel upon regaining memories is dangerous if left for too long. There wasn't any damage done this time with the exception of a few broken blood vessels. That was what caused your nose to bleed, and your eyes are rather bloodshot too. But with eyedrops, the redness will fade and go back to white. In the future, Sarah, regardless of whether you think it's an emergency or not, you must call me. That kind of pain left for too long under any other circumstances could have killed you."

Sarah flinched at his words. She had not realised it was so dangerous, or even all that technical.

"What saved me this time?"

"Your rock-caller friend sings in howls and groans to call the rocks," he explained. "I doubt you noticed, but he was singing the entire time you were in his arms which seemed to counter the dangerous effects of the pain - for the most part, anyway."

Sarah hadn't noticed at all. She shook her head to let the Goblin King know this. Deciding that she did not want to stay in the infirmary, she shuffled around to place her feet on the floor at the side of the bed.

Jareth protested immediately, placing a gentle but restraining hand on her shoulder. Despite everything that had happened in the last two days - with how kind he'd been and how social - she found herself flinching.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Back to my room," she muttered as if it was obvious.

"The healer has already advised me against letting you do that," he said quickly.

"You can't force me to stay here," she hissed, glaring up at him.

"I can and I will," he replied sharply. "So do not make me."

The tone of his voice made her wince. She swallowed, deciding changing her tactics to be quiet would probably work better in her favour than yelling about it would. She glanced up at him, relieved to see there was no glare in his eyes.

"Please?" she whispered.

She was surprised to see Jareth falter in his keeping her on the bed. He blinked, released her shoulder, and shook his head.

"I'll let you go back to your room - _against _the healer's advice, I might add - if you'll swear not to hesitate to call me the next time you remember something," he said.

Sarah nodded. "Sure, I promise."

He moved back from her and she got to her feet carefully, not wanting the dizziness of headrush to ambush her and change Jareth's mind. She remained still for a moment, and once she was sure she would have no trouble walking, she took a small step forwards.

Her world suddenly tilted and Jareth's hand shot out to catch her arm, keeping her on her feet. She felt herself flush red at her trip, and she glanced up at Jareth, ready to perhaps berate him - if she dared - for laughing at her. But he wasn't laughing. He was watching her with a strangely intense concern. It wasn't the intensity of the look that bothered her - every expression the Goblin King pulled was intense - it was the fact that it was concern. Was he worried about her? She found that possibility oddly endearing so when he offered to help her back to her room, she accepted politely instead of proudly denying him like she had first wanted to.

They laced their arms together at the elbows as they walked. His grip was uncomfortably firm, but she realised she was grateful for it. If he loosened up even a little, she was certain she would topple again. She also noticed that while the Goblin King usually walked in long and fast strides, he was keeping in time with her, letting her choose the pace.

The two of them passed through a corridor full of windows, and she noticed the sky was a dark blue and speckled with only a few stars. There was an odd lightness in the distance that her eyes were drawn to.

"What time is it?"

"Almost dawn," Jareth replied. "There would really be little point in you going back to bed unless you're very tired."

She was not going to go back to bed. She was going to watch the sun rise. Aboveground, she'd always found herself too tired to wake up in time to see it, but here, where even the stars were clearer at night, she was sure it would be a breath-taking thing to witness. And she was in no way tired.

They walked the remainder of the journey in complete silence. Once in her room, he led her to the balcony as she requested. He even conjured up a forest green chaise longue for her to sit on and pulled a couple of blankets from her bed. She was grateful for that too as it was rather cold. With that he left her alone, and she stared out at the horizon, awaiting the sun.

* * *

Jareth was no stranger to urges. In fact, he was frequently visited by them, and most of the time he gave in to them relatively quickly. More recently, he had been restraining himself, especially where Sarah was concerned, but this time was different.

Perhaps it was the fact that Sarah was slightly unwell and rather vulnerable and dependent that made this urge so...childish. No, childish wasn't the word for it. It certainly wasn't the usual kind of dark and seductive urge he was used to. So would that make it...vanilla? He would get back to that later. The point was, he'd never, in all his life, had the urge to join someone in an activity as trivial as observing the sunrise. For one thing, he'd seen it well over one hundred times, he knew what it looked like, and now it failed to stupefy him with its beauty.

He was certain that seeing Sarah, with her chestnut hair and jade green eyes, in the blazing sunrise would definitely be something he did not want to miss. Even with her face slightly paler than normal from her nosebleed and the whites of her eyes a severe pink with red patches, he was confident she would still be a thing of beauty.

His only problem was that he could not simply return to Sarah to sit and watch the sunrise (or her) with her without any real explanation. She would question it too much and neither of them would be able to relax. A burst of insipiration had him considering transforming into an owl, but he was not sure if she had worked it out or not, or if she even remembered that conversation.

Reminding himself that he was the Goblin King and he always got what he damn-well wanted, he made up his mind. A flash of sparkle and glitter was all it took for him to shrink considerably in size down to a wise and winged predator of the night. He took flight out of the window and flew up an around the castle to Sarah's balcony.

She was curled up on the chaise longue with two blankets wrapped around her shoulders. She was quite close to the railing, so he landed on that a little in front of her, but not so as to completely block her vision. She glanced up at him curiously.

"You again, huh?" she muttered. "I thought owls were supposed to be creatures of the night."

He tilted his head at her a little, unable to communicate. She suddenly laughed.

"Of course, this is the Underground," she smiled. "Where everything seems possible and nothing is what it seems, right? Not even harmless little barn owls."

He gave a soft hoot which, had he been human, would have come out as nervous laughter. Control over his emotions as a bird was a lot more difficult to retain, for some reason. Perhaps he needed to get over his discomfort and spend more time as an owl.

Sarah suddenly leaned closer to him, a rather mischevious look in her eyes which looked quite frightening considering her the whites of her eyes were a horrible mix of deep pink and cracked red.

"Don't think I don't know who you really are, _your majesty_," she smirked. "I'm not a complete idiot, you know."

If he could have smiled, he would have. And even still, now that they both knew he'd been found out, he did not transform. Sarah seemed so much more at ease with him as a bundle of feathers. A slightly darker side of him muttered that she obviously had no idea how sharp his talons or beak were, but that was utterly ridiculous. As if he'd ever use them.

He turned to the side a little so that he was not blocking the view any more, his gaze alternating between the slowly rising sun and Sarah. As he'd suspected, even with her red eyes, she was captivating in the morning sun. She did not even notice that he was staring at her. Her lips parted slightly as she sighed appreciatively at the sight.

"...so beautiful," Sarah sighed.

_Yes, you are, _Jareth found himself mentally agreeing before realising Sarah was talking about the view. Glad that owls and Goblin Kings alike could not blush, he gave a very low hoot that resembled a mumbled agreement to her statement.

Sarah glanced over at him and smiled. She surprised him by reaching out to stroke the soft feathers on his chest gently, moving her hand up to his face. Before he could stop himself, he turned his head and gave a gentle nibble on her index finger that was similar in many ways to a polite kiss on the back of the hand. She seemed as surprised by his actions as he was by hers _and _his own.

They sat in silence until the sun had fully risen and it was no longer casting a deep orange glow, but a warm yellow one. It was then that he felt a sudden tugging in his gut. He was startled at first as it had been close to eight years since he'd felt that tugging. He wanted to tell Sarah that he would be right back, and that she'd be able to find him in the throne room in a few minutes, but that would require transforming too many times, and he was frankly not in the mood to be wasting his energies when he was going to have to put them all into teaching whoever was going to run the Labyrinth this time a lesson.

Glancing once at Sarah, he took off into the sky.

**Hmm, I guess Jareth's owl form gives Sarah a little bit of confidence (Jareth too). She feels she can talk any way she wants to him, which is always fun. I'm still deciding whether or not there will be repercussions for her attitude, but my guess would be not in the near future. As we can see, Jareth's starting to admit his feelings more to himself now, and he's no fool. He knows it's too soon to be teasing her in any way after what he tried to do (yeah, he's still in the dog house there). Also, he knows that being a prick isn't the way to go about secretly winning her over. Not all blondes are dumb :( I myself am blonde, and i are isn't dumm.**

**See what I did there? Right, I'm shutting up now. This chapter excited me and I ramble when I'm in that state. Please review :P**


	15. 14: In Which It Was Almost Over

**ALERT!  
I decided to issue a challenge. Go to my profile for details, I'd LOVE to see what y'all come up with :D  
Anyway, my friend went back to France and I wrote this really fast because I hate leaving it too long between updates. I don't even know WHERE the time went.**

As Sarah rose steadily to her feet and moved back inside, she noticed that her face and neck were slick and shiny with sweat. She suppposed she must have broken out in her pain yesterday. She took a quick bath and brushed her teeth, then dressed. She ate breakfast in the kitchen hurriedly then went in search of the Goblin King.

He'd taken off so suddenly that she had to wonder if she'd done something wrong. He hadn't bothered to explain, only sparing her a glance before flying into the air and towards the horizon. She checked most of the main rooms such as the dining hall they'd eaten in, the library, and the music room, but to no avail. Even the throne room was bare of him, though there were several goblins - around fifty Sarah would guess - doing a good job of making a lot of noise.

Ducking as a chicken sped through the air towards her, she glanced towards a rather large horde of goblins huddled together in the pit in the centre of the room. They seemed to be fascinated by something she couldn't see.

"Where is the king?" she asked the room.

A small goblin wearing a plastic bowl on its head answered her.

"Kingy's dealin' with the runner," he smiled proudly, as if giving her information was something to be proud of. She supposed, judging by the low intelligence of the majority of them, that it _was._

"The runner?" Sarah repeated.

The group of goblins in the centre of the room shifted a little, and Sarah caught sight of something small in the middle of them. She was forced to do a double-take. It looked like a baby. An adorable, smiling baby with curled, sandy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She clapped her hands excitedly when her eyes came over Sarah, and she giggled. The pink babygrow with daisies dotted all over it and the fact that she was having difficulty in standing told Sarah she was still very young. Only months old, almost one.

Then it all seemed to click into place. She remembered what Catty had told her about the Labyrinth and the king's line of work. It surprised her that there was a child here now. She had not thought she would get to see one. And where was the king? Dealing with the runner, the goblin had said, but what was to be dealt with? Surely he should be here looking after the child instead of leaving her to the goblins?

She didn't bother to ask the goblins as she had most of their attention now and she knew they would all shout out at once. Instead, she sat down on the edge of the pit. Instantly, the little girl crawled towards her and used Sarah's knees to push herself to her feet. She wobbled a little, but before she could fall, three goblins leapt to her aid and grabbed her arms, holding her up. The babe just giggled, delighted.

Sarah felt that she understood that the goblins could protect the child from harm, but perhaps they couldn't care for her. She was sure Jareth would be back soon, anyway.

She smiled down at the child.

"Aren't you cute?" she asked her.

The response she got was a couple of vowel sounds and a happy grin. Sarah smiled at the baby as she turned back to the goblins and began crawling towards one with a rattle in his hand. She found it oddly endearing that they seemed to like the child so much.

She jumped when the Goblin King suddenly appeared out of thin air just in front of his throne, glitter falling to the ground. She frowned a little at the dark outfit of armor and a cape he was wearing, but she supposed it was used for intimidation. But still, why would he want to be intimidating the runner at all? Didn't he want them to get the kid back?

Jareth seemed to pause for a moment before snapping his fingers, causing his clothes to change in the blink of an eye. He was dressed far more casually now, but Sarah couldn't help thinking his wardrobe was still rather extravagant. _He __**is **__a king, _she reminded herself.

The blonde baby on the floor saw the glitter and clapped excitedly, smiling and giggling. Jareth smiled at her in an oddly sweet way and reached down to pick her up. The baby was utterly delighted when Jareth sat down with her in his lap. The sight of the Goblin King with a kind smile on his face and a cheerful baby in his arms made Sarah's breath catch for a second.

She shook her head, though, quickly regaining composure.

"What's her name?" she asked.

"Hadley," Jareth answered, not taking his eyes of the child who was pulling at his hair playfully. "She was wished away by her older brother."

He held up his hand where one of those clear crystals sat. She got to her feet and moved towards it, staring down into it. A boy with light brown hair was rushing through a maze, fire blazing in his eyes. He could have been no older than sixteen.

"Do you think he'll make it?" she asked Jareth. "He looks pretty determined."

"While he may be very determined to win his sister back, do not let that cloud your vision," Jareth muttered. "He is cocky. Far too cocky for my liking and he may overlook a lot of things before he realises he is going the wrong way. Skate, send out some fairies. I want him tested."

Sarah glanced at the king.

"You're sending fairies out there?" she repeated. "But don't you want him to get Hadley back?"

"Of course I do," Jareth nodded. "He faced me with not a tremor in his voice nor a tremble in his body, which proves that he is brave. But bravery is not enough in the Labyrinth. The entire puzzle is a test of determination, I'm simply adding to it. If, after everything he goes through, he still wins his sister, then he deserves to have her. If he gives up at any point, or runs out of time, then he did not want her enough, and he doesn't deserve her."

"That's not fair," Sarah found herself saying. "What about their parents?"

"Everyone must face the consequences of their actions in order to learn," Jareth explained calmly. "In any case, if he does not get his sister back, he and his family will forget about the child. She will be erased from their world entirely. If he wins her back, then there is nothing to worry about..."

Jareth trailed off, looking oddly thoughtful as if he'd just realised something. But he did not explain himself, and she did not expect him to. She had grown past expecting explanations from him.

She glanced out of the window at the ever-changing stone maze. Its movements were more aggressive than normal, she noticed, but she could not pick out any specific changes in detail from this far away. Jerking in surprise at an odd tugging on her hair, she turned her head to meet the mischevious blue eyes of baby Hadley. She was not pulling hard by any means, and she only looked playful.

Sarah smiled.

She found that whilst there was a runner in the Labyrinth, the only place to be was the throne room. From here, she could watch the Labyrinth from the window, and focus on the boy through Jareth's crystals. The goblins put all their energies into entertaining the baby, and they even fought over who would feed her. The duty eventually fell to Sarah when Jareth disappeared to put more obstacles in the runner's path.

Hadley was a sweet baby who did not seem to have a tear to shed or a scream to utter. There was a constant smile on her face, not dimmed at all by her teeth which Sarah could tell were forcing their way slowly through her gums. One had already come through, possibly only a few days ago Sarah suspected, and as it was right at the front, it only made the child look even more adorable when she smiled. She was also not afraid of Sarah's admittedly frightening eyes. Though she was taking eyedrops every hour and they were gradually turning white again, they had been bright red and bloody when she'd first met the child.

The baby spoke in gurgles and unintelligable noises, but she used her hands a lot to make vaguely recognizable gestures. At some point, Jareth pointed out that she was advanced for her age and that she would likely do incredibly well no matter what world she ended up living in. Apparently, intelligence was more valued here in the Underground than it was Above because, as Sarah noted to herself quietly, know-it-alls and people with the slightest sliver of intelligence back home were all cruelly picked on. Herself included in those unfortunate statistics.

Almost seven hours into Sarah's stay in the throne room with Hadley, Jareth and the goblins, Jareth suddenly went a little pale and looked rather pained. He got to his feet without a word and disappeared. Wondering why the sky had suddenly been covered by thick, dark clouds, she held Hadley to her gently. They were both startled by the sudden silence that had fallen on the goblins.

When Jareth returned, the atmosphere seemed heavy, and the goblins dispersed instantly. She glanced around at the empty room then got to her feet, Hadley sitting quietly on her hip. She seemed to sense that something was wrong because even though she was holding tightly onto a lock of Sarah's hair, she was not smiling or giggling.

Sarah approached Jareth carefully.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"The boy...gave up," he whispered back.

She was not sure why it was such a big deal. Surely there was nothing special about this particular boy. He had no need to be so glowering about it.

"How? I mean, why?"

"He did not care!" Jareth suddenly growled, his closed fist shooting out to connect with the stone wall. Sarah jumped, and Hadley sniffled a little. "The little fool. Treating the whole thing like it was nothing more than a joke. Like it was some game and the prize was little more than a useless trinket. He had no idea of the importance - the effects -"

Jareth's hissing had caused Hadley to start weeping quietly. Sarah tried to hush her, but though she did not calm down, she did not get any louder.

"Jareth-" Sarah started.

"Don't tell me to calm down!" he snarled, suddenly turning a burning glare onto her. She flinched under it, almost as if it had actually hurt her. She swallowed.

"You're be-"

"Don't you understand?" he demanded, taking several steps towards her. She took a step back from him intinctively. "This could have all been over!"

The look in his eyes was quite scary. He looked mad, angry. Almost animalistic. Nearly beyond reason. She took a subtle but deep breath, keeping herself calm.

"What do you mean?" she frowned.

He blinked, then abruptly regained all of his lost composure. He stepped away from both Sarah and Hadley. His finger trailed under the baby's chin, and she seemed comforted by it.

"Nothing," he mumbled, and Sarah found it odd he was mumbling at all, and that he seemed to be at a slight loss for words. She'd never figured him to be someone who got nervous. "I didn't mean to scare you."

He turned away, leaning against the side of the window so he could face the dark Labyrinth. It was raining, Sarah noticed. Fire torches in the room had lit themselves, but that was their only light. It was oddly metaphorical of this new, silent and nervous - even apologetic - king.

"You...didn't," she half-lied. She waited a few minutes for Jareth to speak, but he did not. Feeling somewhat awkward, she tried to break the silence. "What happens to Hadley now?"

"She stays here tonight and goes to a new family tomorrow," he said quietly, as if he was not quite listening to her or even what he himself was saying. He continued to simply stare out of the window for a few moments, a slight frown on his otherwise blank face. It only took him a few seconds to shake himself out of his trance, though. He turned and held his hands out for the baby which Sarah only relinquished after a few moments of hesitation. "You haven't eaten since this morning," Jareth stated. "I would suggest you do so now and keep yourself warm. It is going to be very cold tonight."

Without another word, he turned from her and disappeared through the door. Sarah stared after him, slightly confused by his new demeanour. Had she said something? Or had the runner giving up simply depressed him a little? That didn't seem likely. Surely in his line of work he was used to it by now?

Whatever the reason for his abrupt mood shift, there was definitely something wrong with him, but she convinced herself it was not her place to pry.

**I kind of wanted poor little Hadley to be won back, but if that happened, then there would be no need for Sarah to be in the Underground at all because there would be someone else who believed. And there would be no more story. GAH, damn you plot. Makin' poor Hadley have no family just cuz of what I wrote earlier. **

**So, review, oui? Pour moi?**


	16. 15: In Which It's Too Cold To Snow

**(A/N): Poor Jareth. Forever angsting over what he can't have. I feel that this is quite an angsty chapter, so let that be a warning to y'all who prefer fluff. This chapter was up rather quickly, wasn't it? Yay.  
NOW PLEASE read the note down the bottom. You may like it :P**

Jareth managed to keep himself in order while he put the babe Hadley down to sleep in a crib. The room had no windows. Tapestries were plastered over the walls in here, a roaring fireplace was burning in the corner, and several blankets were wrapped around her to keep her warm. Jareth was all too familiar with the Labyrinth's reaction to runners who failed or gave up. He knew it was going to be almost too cold to snow tonight. He could handle the temperature, and so could his goblins, and Sarah. But Hadley was a baby. She needed extra protection.

He left her to sleep with a nanny goblin sitting in the corner keeping a watchful eye on her. He kept it together until he reached his own chambers. Once there, his anger got the better of him and he promptly destroyed the nearest piece of furniture which happened to be a wooden desk.

There was an immense amount of hate for the boy who had simply given up. For the boy who had simply declared that he "couldn't be bothered with this shit any more" and that he wanted to go home. Jareth almost could not believe that his view of the Labyrinth, all it stood for, and his younger sister was so shallow. And then there was the other thing. The boy hadn't known, but that didn't deter Jareth's anger from wanting to rip him limb from limb.

If the boy had won; if he hadn't given up, things could have been so different. He would have returned to the Above with his sister, remembering every detail of his experience, therefore believing. Then Sarah would no longer have had to remember. She could have gone home happily without any of the troubles the both of them were now facing. No more would she have had to face the pain of regaining her memories; or miss her brother; or have to deal with him.

Jareth froze for a moment as a brief, but very present thought, flashed through his mind. If he'd been given the oppurtunity to send her home without worrying about his kingdom, _would _he have really done it? For a second there, his mind answered 'no'. No, he wouldn't have sent her home. But he shook his head of that selfish thought and continued to stomp back and forth across his room.

The point was, it was selfish. What would he have done? Kept her here forever only to have her live in complete fear of him for the rest of her life? He wanted her, maybe even loved her still, but it was painfully clear that she did not feel the same way. She only wanted to go home to her brother and to forget about all of the horrible, and perhaps even cruel things that Jareth had done, including the things she could not remember.

He tried to list them in his head. The ones that _she _could remember. First, there had been breaking and entering. In a manner of speaking. He had come into her home uninvited, given chase when she'd run, and kidnapped her in a very hands-on way. She'd certainly been afraid then. She'd gone on to run away and get herself hurt, only to have him force her back once more. He cringed. If he could have done things differently... _What's done is done, _a voice in his head reminded him. He batted his inner voice away impatiently.

What else? He was still lying to her about how long she was to remain here. Though that was a mixture of cruelty and goodwill. It was unfair of him to tell her she would be here indefinitely, but he was certain telling her there was a time limit and explaining why would only stress her out. He was barely containing that aspect of himself as it was.

And there was, of course, the one thing that had completely ruined any chances he might have had about at least gaining her trust. The event that had taken place in the Escher room. There were not many memories that Jareth held that made him actually close his eyes in horror. And even after that, when she'd run again, he had brought her back. _To protect her from the Labyrinth, _he told himself. But had making her return with him really been the best thing to do for _her_?

Did occasionally relieving her headaches, covering her with a blanket, and saving her from Revin's attack really counter all of that? The martyr in him said that those small things did not even come close to making up for his cruel actions. Another part of him that was pathetically hopeful reminded him that he had done more than that to help her, but he was still certain it did not make up for what he'd done.

Her hesitation and slight but clear discomfort around him was perfectly understandable, but he was surprised things were not more awkward or even tense between them. There had to be a reason she was still so relaxed around him.

Jareth took an even breath in and then exhaled slowly, sinking into an armchair that faced a fireplace. The fire was not burning. He could spend days thinking about all of that, and he would surely drive himself insane within an hour. Two different sides of him were having an argument in his head.

_It's really not worth spending your valuable time worrying about any of that, _a colder side hissed.

_It concerns Sarah. It matters, _another said.

_What is she to you, really? Nothing, correct? Even logically, she is nothing to you. Simply a means of saving yourself._

Jareth kneaded his temples with his forefingers. A slight headache was crawling into the corners of his senses. Some strange impulse had him getting to his feet with the idea that talking to Sarah would spare him the headache _and _the confusion.

He stride was confident until he actually reached the door of Sarah's chambers. There, he froze, quite unsure of himself. What was he supposed to say? How was he supposed to begin? He couldn't very well stroll into her room and declare that he was here to discuss how much of a prat he thought he was. Or maybe he could.

He stood still for several minutes, and was startled when the door suddenly opened. As he calmed his racing heart, he looked down at Sarah, with several blankets wrapped around her shoulders and a book in her hand. She froze upon seeing him there too.

"Jareth," she said quietly after a few moments.

"I was just about to knock," he explained lamely.

She looked as if she would never believe that for a second, and he could not blame her. If he'd stood there any longer without the door opening, he probably would have turned around and walked away again. In any case, she stepped back a little and moved to the side, silently granting him entry.

Jareth struggled to remember the last time he had been this nervous about anything. If he had to hazard a guess, he'd say it was the day he'd been crowned the Goblin King in front of hundreds of thousands of the inhabitants of the Underground, all staring at him with their judgemental eyes. He was barely through his adolescence at the time, and as with any teenager, having to stand in front of thousands of strangers for any length of time was not a pleasant experience. Only the goblins had been cheering that day, excited to have him as their king. Strangely, Jareth felt more nervous now with just he and a shivering Sarah in a small, comfortable room than he had felt when receiving the responsibility of a kingdom and those who lived there, _and _the Labyrinth.

However, he made himself appear at least a little confident, but he found he was losing the will to make himself seem 'kingly' at all in Sarah's presence. That could hardly be a good thing. He strode past her into the room, considering conjuring a chair for himself, but ultimately deciding he'd end up standing. He turned to face Sarah, who still looked to be a little perplexed. She closed the door nonetheless, although she did not stray from it.

"Are you alright?" she asked, frowning at him.

He barely noticed himself heaving a sigh.

"I hardly know where to begin," he muttered.

Something in Sarah's demeanour changed. As if she had tapped into his own emotions and sensed the turmoil in him and understood the difficulty he was facing in choosing to speak to her at all. Her expression softened slightly, even her shoulders relaxed a little. She still clutched the blankets around her, but he couldn't blame her. It was considerably colder in her than it was elsewhere in the castle. It did not help that there was no fireplace to light in this room.

"It usually helps to start at the start," Sarah smiled. He managed to return her smile briefly. Both their faces fell in sync. "Tell me what's wrong, Jareth." There was an odd upwards inflection in her voice towards the end of the sentence that made Jareth think it was some kind of request.

"What if I couldn't tell you everything," he suggested to her. She said nothing. Her eyes - once so cruel - were soft and open. She was willing to listen, even if she did not get all of the truth. "I want you to understand something, Sarah." As he spoke, he moved towards her slowly. Once he reached her, he took her right hand gently in his own, lifting it towards himself. "I have not been completely honest with you. You _are _here to remember, but you already know that I cannot tell you why that is so important. I told you that you could return home once you remember everything - which is the truth - but I left out a few details. The ultimate reason you are here is bigger than you can imagine, but there is a...time limit, of sorts. If you don't remember everything within a certain amount of time, you will be sent home regardless, but I can't tell you what will happen here."

She looked confused. He was not giving her enough information, and what he _was _giving her was patchy and frayed. But he couldn't give her any more.

"I don't understand," she said. "A time limit? How much time do I have left, if it's that important?"

"Not a lot," he admitted vaguely.

A faint and very brief frown graced her for a moment. She was frustrated now.

"And you're not going to tell me specifically, are you?" she asked. "Fine. But what did you mean a second ago? About what will happen here?"

"I do believe I just said I could not tell you," Jareth replied in as gentle a tone as he could. "I know it is difficult to grasp when I can't explain it all to you, and frustrating, but I am asking you to try."

She seemed to debate with herself internally for several seconds before she nodded.

"Jareth...if I don't remember everything, will something happen to you?" she asked quietly.

He hesitated, and she withdrew her hand from his.

"Tell me what will happen!" she demanded, suddenly not so placid.

On instinct, Jareth found himself saying, "Do not take that tone with me."

"Oh, please," Sarah scoffed. "Drop the high and mighty ruler act. I think I just got over it." Jareth was startled and lost for words. She was displaying that attitude again. The attitude that told him the old Sarah was coming back. As before, he was not sure whether he liked it or not. "I can tell by that look on your face that something bad's going to happen if I don't remember. Just tell me."

He was still recovering from her "drop the high and mighty" comment. He could barely think about words to formulate. And then she shocked him again. Her eyes suddenly became watery, her voice tremulous.

"I don't want anything to happen to you," she revealed in a tiny, quivering voice.

This admission sent a wave of something like fire through him. He could have kissed her there and then. He would have were he not so sure that she would not take it as well as he wanted her to. Instead, he took a hard and deep breath.

"You must understand that I cannot tell you," he said. "Perhaps I will be able to in the future, but not now. I know it will be difficult to live with the thought that you know you are running out of time, and that something will happen if you don't remember. But you must try."

"Jareth-" she began, shaking her head.

"I had something else to say too," he interrupted. "Things to apologize for." Her eyebrows shot up suddenly, eyes widening. He understood where she was coming from. He could scarcely remember the last time he'd felt the need to apologize for anything. "In fact, I believe I've a lot to be sorry for where you are concerned. The way I brought you here certainly wasn't the most gentlemanly way to go about it. So I must apologize for forcing you back here the way I did."

Now that he had begun, he found he could hardly stop. He found himself saying sorry for everything that had been plaguing his mind. He could not look at her as he said it all, keeping his head determinedly down and his eyes fixed to the ground. Sarah was completely silent as he spoke, and he found that that scared him. He couldn't look at her face, she was not speaking. What was she thinking?

When he did finally stop speaking, there was only silence to follow. He heard Sarah swallow. She waited several seconds before she said anything.

"Jareth...I don't know what you thought, but..." Her fingers found the side of his face, and he let her turn his head so that they were looking directly at each other. "...I've never hated you. The entire time I've been here, I don't remember hating you once. I was scared of you," she admitted. "Really scared. Especially that night I was sleepwalking. But even after all that, I didn't hate you. I have some memory of you; I remember that time in the ballroom. And you've never really hurt me. When you were going to, you stopped."

Jareth found it bizarre that she was defending his actions against her. Surely that was not good for her mental state.

"How can you even justify any of the things I've done?" he challenged. "How can you defend kidnap?"

She flinched at the word.

"You keep saying that I'm here to remember and that it's really important that I do," she stated. "I believe you. You had your reasons."

"I find it near-impossible to understand how you can act so casually about all of this."

"I'd be lying if I said it didn't bother me," she nodded. "But it's not really hurting me, so it shouldn't be hurting you." She paused for breath. "I don't have a lot of time left, you said. Couldn't you use your magic to help me remember something?"

"I could," he nodded. "But it would require quite a bit of effort on your part, and possibly a lot on mine too. I might not have the strength to relieve your headache afterwards."

"So I'll spend a night in the infirmary," she countered. "Please, let's just try?"

Jareth's heart sped up a tiny bit. This was the second time she had used that on him. The classic 'puppy dog eyes', slight pout, and the amazingly soft way she said "please". He had to wonder if she had done it on purpose knowing his reaction to the first time.

And yet how could he refuse her request when she gave him that look? He sighed, just to let her know that he was not entirely happy with this, and stepped aside a little to gesture to the bed.

"You may want to sit down."

**So, if you're smart enough to be keeping track (which I'm NOT. I have to keep going through it chapter by chapter and counting) you'll notice that they only have about six days left. Almost five. RUNNING OUTTA TIME!**

**ANYWAY, this is the important bit. Ima have Sarah remember something (haven't decided what just yet) in the next chapter. Afterwards, what do YOU guys want to happen? Let me know! Consider it fanservice :P**


	17. 16: In Which They Need Some Respite

**I debated with myself for HOURS upon HOURS over what I was going to have Sarah remember. After several hours of internal turmoil, I decided that having her remember this would NOT affect the way I plan to end this story, whenever that is. So yay :D**

**NOW, a couple of people were asking me to have Hoggle meet Sarah again and I kept saying that it wasn't going to happen. I forget my reasons XD. So I've decided that she WILL meet Hoggle again, just not in this chapter. Maybe the next one which I seem to be having some trouble with. Bear with me :P **

_Sarah is staring down. Her surroundings are confusing; muddled and gravity-defying. Stairs are built into the ceiling and walls, archways are carved out of the floor and every other surface in this strange room. The angles of light cascading over these surfaces are confusing too, so that she can barely tell which way is up or down. But she is no longer interested in all that. She is staring down at her baby brother._

_Toby is still clad in his red and white striped baby clothes, and is teetering precariously on the edge of something. She can't even tell which way is up or down from where he is sitting, she only knows that if he falls off the edge, he is going to be seriously hurt, and though he appears to be well-cared for now, she isn't so sure that the Goblin King will save him if he falls. This is her job._

_"Toby!" she calls._

_The baby glances back and up to meet her eyes. He looks just as confused as she feels. But when his bright blue eyes meet her jade ones, she knows that she will do anything to save him. And she must, for she is running out of time._

_Taking a deep breath, and screwing her eyes shut, she leaps from the ledge she is on. She feels herself plunge downwards, but the sting of cold air does not strike, nor does she feel her ankles crack painfully upon any kind of impact. She opens her eyes, confused, to find that she is not plummetting as she expected to be. She is floating carefully downwards. And her surroundings are changing again._

_The room seems to be breaking apart as she falls, bits of wall and stair floating around her. The distance is completely black, with hints of other hot colours running through it. She can faintly see stars in the blackness too. The objects around her are not shrouded in shadow, though. She can see them all perfectly as if they're bathed in light though with no visible source._

_Her toes tap against a hard surface, and she comes to a steady and gentle halt with broken wall and stair around her. She glances around, worried. Where is Toby? What has happened to the Goblin King? Where is she? She takes a few steps back and looks up to see how far she has fallen, but she cannot even see where she leapt from. Or perhaps she can but it's been broken down like everything else around her._

_Suddenly, she can feel eyes on her. A familiar, hot sensation at the back of her neck tells her exactly who is watching her, too. She spins around to stare through a crooked arch. He is shielded from her complete view by the shadows being cast, but she can still see his eyes. His two very different eyes drilling into her very soul with a look alone as he stares back at her from his hiding place._

_They simply stare at each other for several moments, neither speaking nor moving. Sarah feels scared. She can sense that he is angry. It is almost as if he is challenging her with that look._

_He takes several slow and deliberate steps out of the shadows towards her. She is used to seeing him in dark clothing, but now he is wearing all white. White gloves, breeches, cape. An odd array of feathers is displayed around his neck and chest too, and she has to wonder about them. His hair blows in a breeze that she has only just noticed._

_Though she is scared - terrified, in fact - she does not step away from him. She stands her ground and tilts her chin defiantly up. She __**will **__win her brother back even if it kills her._

_"Give me the child," she demands in as cool and calm a voice as she can muster. She is surprised by how calm she sounds._

_The Goblin King pauses for a moment, then begins moving, not towards her, but around her, stepping to the side. But she notices he is getting closer, somehow. She hates how he is able to do that: how he is able to confuse her so easily and well._

_"Sarah, beware," he warns. "I have been generous up until now. But I can be cruel."_

_He stops directly in front of her. His words send another spark of fear through her, but she refuses to back down. She wants her brother. She needs her brother._

_"Generous..." she repeats slowly as he begins to circle her like a predator. "What have you done that's generous?" she asks after mentally debating with herself over what he has actually done._

_"Everything!" he hisses sharply, causing her to flinch slightly. He pauses for a tiny second in his circling, then looks down and continues moving around her like a predator looking its prey up and down. He continues to speak, too, in a slightly softer voice which gradually gets louder. She moves with him, following his every action, strangely fearful that he will suddenly pounce on her. "Everything that you wanted, I have done. You asked that the child be taken; I took him. You __**cowered **__before me; I __**was **__frightening." He suddenly lifts his hand and points to a clock that is floating in midair beside him. The hands on it spin fast, anti-clockwise. The effect is quite dizzying. "I have reordered time! I have turned the world upside down, and I have done it all for you!"_

_He stops abruptly then, almost too close to her. She finds herself shocked by what he is saying, even though she knows she shouldn't be. He speaks again, his voice so soft that it is barely above a whisper._

_"I am exhausted from living up to your expectations of me," he breathes. "Isn't that generous?"_

_Sarah stares at him, completely dumbfounded. She hadn't realised... But no. She can't stop for even a moment, or fall for what he is saying to her. They are nothing but pretty words designed to distract her, even if they do hold some truth to them._

_She takes a small breath and forces herself to speak the words that she hopes will defeat him._

_"Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered," she begins, taking a step towards him. She is surprised when he backs away from her. She continues, speaking and walking. "I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City. For my will is a strong as yours, and my king-"_

_The Goblin King's hand suddenly flies out, stopping her dead. She freezes in place._

_"Stop!" he hisses, and she ceases to speak. "Wait...look, Sarah." He lifts his hands, and conjures another of those crystals. He holds it out to her, and she glances from it to him, confused. The sight of it makes her nervous. She has learned not to trust them. "Look what I'm offering you. Your dreams."_

_They stare each other down. His eyes burn dangerously into hers as he holds the crystal out to her, as if daring her not to take it. For a moment, she is tempted to reach out and take everything, but then she reminds herself that she must save Toby. He is the whole reason she has gone through the hardships and dangers. She is not about to back down now simply for her own selfish desires._

_She begins walking towards him again. Though he continues to hold the crystal out to her, he backs away as before._

_"And my kingdom as great," she recites. _

_"I ask for so little," the king says, looking somewhat hurt now. "Just let me rule you and you can have everything that you want!"_

_Sarah freezes again. She has forgotten the line. Oh no! This is not the time for her to be forgetting her lines! She is certain that the final one will get her her brother back, if only she could remember! She turns from the king slightly, trying to remember._

_"My kingdom as great..." she repeats frustratedly. "Damn! I can never remember that line!"_

_"Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave," the Goblin King implores her. Hearing him ask her to love him is no shock. She knows that the King of the Goblins had fallen in love with the girl already. But the desperation in his voice throws her off. _

_"My kingdom as great...my kingdom as great..." she repeats, trying to remember before he can distract her again._

_Sarah suddenly remembers. She remembers the line. But something inside her stops her from saying it straight away. She could have everything she wants...she could have __**him**__. He does love her, right? And she...desires him. But at what cost? Toby..._

_No, she has to save Toby. And besides, she is only fifteen years old! She is far too young...right? Far too young, and there is too much at stake._

_She looks up at him._

_"You have no power over me."_

* * *

When Sarah opened her eyes, the pain in her head was tremendous. It practically blinded her. She let out a small moan, but Jareth was already on it. His fingers found her temples, and just like that, the pain was gone. She was surprised he had the energy to do that. That had been a huge memory.

Sarah was completely shocked. She barely understood what had happened to put them in that situation, but she did understand one thing. He had loved her. At age fifteen, he had loved her and offered her absolutely everything, and she had rejected him. The look in his eyes when she'd delivered that final blow...it brought tears to her eyes now. He had loved her...did he still? She would hardly expect him to. But it was the fact that he _had. _Did that explain his confusing mood swings around her? It certainly explained that and so much more.

She was lying on her back, she realised, and she quickly sat up. Jareth was on his feet, his back turned, and was leaning heavily against the post of the bed. His head was down and he was completely stock still. Sarah realised something with a jolt of horror.

"Did...Did you see everything I saw?" she asked in a small voice.

"Yes," he replied instantly and sharply. The sharpness made her flinch.

He began walking. His pace was unsteady, showing that he was really exhausted as he'd said he would be. Sarah reached out before he could get to far and she grabbed his arm. He froze at her touch.

"Please don't go," she begged him. "We...have to talk about that."

"We've done enough talking for one night, don't you think?" He wrenched his arm out of her frail grip.

Sarah jumped to her feet, wobbling a little as her own legs seemed shaky and unwilling to support her.

"No, I don't think we've done enough talking," she said heatedly as he contiuned walking. "Stop! You're just running away from your problems!"

The Goblin King came to a very abrupt halt at her words, his entire body tensing. When he turned to face her, the expression he wore was frightening. He looked completely livid, but even under that, Sarah could see a trace of hurt, as if she'd touched some nerve in him. A lump appeared in her throat at the thought of making him hurt any more.

He began stalking towards her, but she remembered now that he had no real power over her. She stood her ground and glared at him as he approached.

"You mean like how you fled, completely unthinking, like a petrified little animal when I offered absolutely _everything _to you, even myself?" he demanded, voice harsh and loud.

"I...That was different!" she insisted. "I still don't really understand it, but I had to get Toby back. I was running out of time. And besides, you can't make an offer like that to a fifteen-year-old girl who was terrified out of her mind and just expect her accept."

Jareth paused for a second.

"You were...frightened?"

Sarah stared at him indredulously.

"Yes, I was fucking frightened!" she snapped. "I had no idea if what I was saying was going to work or not! I was scared you were going to throw me into another one of those weird crystal dreams so that I would forget about Toby! And that look in your eyes - it looked like you could have killed me. I was fifteen! Still just a little girl! Of course I was scared."

The Goblin King was silent for several long seconds.

"Do you want to know how I feel?" he asked quietly.

"Yes!" she insisted, not quite realising what _he _meant.

It only took him two long strides to reach her. One of his arms went around her waist so that his hand pressed against the small of her back. He pulled her closer so that she was inches from him. His other hand went to gently cup her face.

"What are you-?"

His eyes closed and his lips met hers. Sarah froze for a second. His lips were soft, and they massaged her own gently. He ran the tip of his tongue slowly across her lower lip, but he made no effort to get it inside her mouth. The kiss surprised her in its tenderness. In her mind, she saw herself responding eagerly to it like she desperately wanted to, but her body wouldn't move.

Jareth continued his rather gentle assault on her lips for only a few more seconds before he pulled back and took her face in both his hands. His gaze was soft, but that probably had something to do with the dark circles under his eyes.

"No amount of excuses or reasons why it can't be will change what I feel, especially about you," he said calmly. "It's entirely up to you how you choose to respond to it. Goodnight, Sarah."

With that he turned and walked away. The urge that Sarah had to call him back diminished, but even if she'd wanted to, she did not think she could have. She was in some kind of shock. When the door closed gently behind him as he exited the room, Sarah lifted her fingers to her lips. The tingling sensation he had left there was alien to her.

In most senses, she was a twenty-two year old virgin - although she was not planning on making that common knowledge - but she had been kissed before. Though it had never felt like that. Were kisses supposed to leave one feeling a little dazed and tingly? She found it quite depressing that she didn't know. Perhaps having a proper mother figure in her life would have left her more knowledgable about adult interactions.

She swallowed a painful lump in her throat as she continued to stare at the door through which Jareth had left. Possibilities were running around her mind like wild rabbits. But they were both tired. Perhaps he had been right. They had done enough talking for now, and enough thinking. They both needed some respite, even if just for a night.

So Sarah - without bothering to change - kicked her shoes off and climbed fully clothed into bed, that kiss playing over and over in her head more times than she'd care to admit.

**I think this chapter was a bit shorter than usual. Never mind, eh? Review and I'll make sure Hoggle makes an entrance?**


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